


Eleventh Hour

by Alexander_L



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Angst and Romance, Crests (Fire Emblem: Three Houses), Divine Pulse (Fire Emblem), Fire Emblem: Three Houses Blue Lions Route, Fire Emblem: Three Houses Cindered Shadows DLC Spoilers, Hapi is in it a little bit because I love her, M/M, Male My Unit | Byleth, Post-Timeskip | War Phase (Fire Emblem: Three Houses), Those Who Slither in the Dark, Time Travel, Tiny bit of background Sylvix because I have no self-control, Yuri Leclerc backstory head canons, Yurileth Week, Yurileth Week 2020, yurileth
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-16
Updated: 2020-05-24
Packaged: 2021-03-02 22:14:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 22,313
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24224128
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Alexander_L/pseuds/Alexander_L
Summary: Over and over again, Byleth tried to save Yuri, but no matter how many times he rewound time, it always ended with an assassin's blade in Yuri's back. With the last of his magic, he forces the Divine Pulse far past its limit in a last-ditch effort to try one more time.For Yurileth Week 2020
Relationships: Yuris Leclair | Yuri Leclerc/My Unit | Byleth
Comments: 40
Kudos: 106





	1. Back to the Beginning

**Author's Note:**

> In celebration of Yurileth Week 2020, I've created a short story that is a collection of scenes based on the daily prompts that tells an overarching story about Yuri & Byleth's relationship and how Yuri's backstory will influence their future together after the war.
> 
> I've been looking forward to Yurileth Week for ages and am so excited! Please drop recommendations for other great Yurileth Week stories as I am trying to read as much of everyone else's content as I can in celebration of the week! Thanks and enjoy!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yuri rushed to Garreg Mach when he heard Byleth was alive, but their reunion goes nothing like what he expected. 
> 
> Day One prompt: Smile

##  1 – Back to the Beginning 

###  Guardian Moon, 1185

  
  


Yuri appeared to be calm. He was sure of it. Still, he fidgeted a bit as he tried to find the perfect casual pose as he stood waiting in the old Ashen Wolves classroom.

“How do I look?” he asked Hapi.

“I swear to hell, if you ask me that one more time-”

“Hapi, please,” he said, giving her a pleading look. “First impressions are everything. I need to look-”

“You look beautiful, Yuri-bird,” she said.

“I know I do. But do I look cool?”

She snorted. “Sure.”

“Hapi!”

“Yeah. I mean you did until you asked me if you did.”

Yuri exhaled a nervous breath. “Thanks. Okay. I’ve got this.”

“What does it matter?” she asked. “To us it’s been five years since we’ve seen him, but if what everyone says is true, to Byleth it’s apparently been like a day and a half. He liked you back then. To him, nothing will have changed.”

As always, Yuri was grateful for Hapi’s frank common sense and its ability to ground him when he was being uncharacteristically irrational. 

“You’re right,” he replied. “Thanks. Now scram. The Abysskeeper said he’s on his way.”

“I want to say hello first! I missed Chatterbox too, you know. Just because I didn’t spend our entire academy days mooning over him like a twitterpated bird like you did doesn’t mean I didn’t care about him!”

“Alright, you can stay. But as soon as you’ve said your hello, go. Please. I want to be alone with him.”

Hapi smirked. “Why? What are you plotting?”

“Plotting? Me? Never,” he said. “I just don’t want you around to mock the sappy, sentimental things I intend to say.”

“Maybe I’ll surprise you and say something sappy too.”

“Hm. Well, go ahead. Maybe-” Yuri stopped abruptly when he heard footsteps in the hall. He swore under his breath and flicked his hair out of his eyes quickly, assuming his casual pose again and ignoring Hapi’s quiet snicker.

His heart started pounding when the door to the classroom opened and Byleth stepped inside.

“You’re back finally!” Hapi exclaimed, drawing Byleth’s attention away after only so much as a brief glance in Yuri’s direction.

As they talked for a moment, Yuri studied him, still marveling at the fact he was alive. Up until this moment, there had still been doubt in his mind that the news was true. He knew he couldn’t fully let himself believe it until he saw Byleth with his own eyes. Now all the pain of the years he had spent thinking him dead flooded in through the walls Yuri had built up in his mind to restrain it lest it overwhelm him. He was grateful that Hapi had stuck around to distract Byleth for a moment because Yuri would not have been able to keep his calm front up if he had had to wrestle all this emotion under control while Byleth was looking at him with those keen, knowing eyes that saw straight into his soul.

“Okay, take care, Chatterbox. See you in another five years,” Hapi said flippantly but with a fond smile nonetheless. As she left the room, Byleth turned to face Yuri finally.

He was so thin and pale, almost starved. And the dark shadows under his eyes and haggard look to his face spoke to both physical and mental stress. Yuri would have to remedy those things with some good cooking and stern insistence on recovering from whatever happened to him. It had been Yuri’s self-appointed responsibility from the beginning of their friendship to force Byleth to take care of himself, for he was the only person more stubborn than him and seemingly the only person Byleth would let his guard down enough to relax around.

A slight smile passed across Byleth’s face, so faint someone else might have missed it. But even after all this time, Yuri remembered the subtle cues in his expressions that betrayed the emotions he was so bad at showing. His heart leapt when he saw his own joy and relief mirrored in Byleth’s eyes.

But before he could speak, Byleth gave a startled gasp and swayed unsteadily, grabbing onto the edge of a desk to steady himself. 

“What’s wrong, friend?” Yuri asked, closing the distance between them worriedly and putting his hand on Byleth’s arm. He could feel a tremble shiver through Byleth’s whole body.

“Yuri?” Byleth said, blinking in confusion and looking around the room like he suddenly couldn’t remember where he was.

Was this disorientation some lingering effect of the magic that had kept him in his death-sleep for five years? Was he ill again like he had been when Jeralt died? He looked rather similar to how he did then.

“I’m here,” Yuri reassured him. “I flew here as soon as I heard-”

He stopped his carefully planned speech abruptly when Byleth looked up at him with the strangest expression. It was more intense than any he had seen before – both anguish and joy written openly across his face with nothing hidden or held back. 

“Thank- thank the goddess,” Byleth gasped and stumbled forward to grab Yuri in a hug.

For a second, Yuri froze in shock. Despite how close they had been years ago, touch of any kind had always been limited to gentle, platonic gestures of physical affection only ever initiated by Yuri. It was completely unlike Byleth to be so demonstrative.

Yuri had done his best to appear calm. He truly had. But after five long years of mourning his best friend’s death, of almost hating the irrational hope that he might still be alive, of missing his steady, reassuring presence during the challenging times when Yuri would have needed it most… After all that he could not keep up appearances. 

Tears stung shamefully in his eyes and he hid his face against Byleth’s shoulder, accepting the comforting feeling of being so close to him without questioning its unexpectedness.

“I’ve missed you,” he whispered. “I… I cared about you more than you ever knew.”

That’s what he had wanted to say, what he had planned and rehearsed in his mind for hours while he waited for Byleth in Abyss. Among all the painful emotions Byleth’s death five years ago had provoked, regret was one of the strongest. The thought that Byleth had died without knowing how deeply Yuri felt about him haunted him.

Byleth pulled back and stared at him with that blank, matter-of-fact gaze of his. Then, to Yuri’s astonishment, he reached out and cupped Yuri’s cheek in his hand. Yuri barely had time to process what was happening before Byleth leaned down and pressed his lips against his. It was a careful, tender kiss, and yet Yuri could sense a tension in Byleth as if he were holding back a tide of strong emotion to keep the kiss gentle.

But when Yuri tilted his head to deepen the kiss and respond to Byleth’s restraint with passion, the floodgates broke. Byleth’s hands went to Yuri’s waist and he tugged him so close his body was pressed up against his. His kiss grew intent with longing and his grip on Yuri’s waist tightened until it was so desperate and strong it nearly hurt.

And yet it wasn’t enough. Yuri’s confidence rose and he placed his palm on Byleth’s chest, stepping closer and making him back up until he was pressed against the wall. The excitement that brightened Byleth’s green eyes made him smile playfully. 

“If you’re going to keep looking at me like that, we’re going to need to go to somewhere a little more private,” Yuri said, tracing the line of Byleth’s jaw with his fingertip and leaning in so his mouth was an inch from Byleth’s and he could feel his quickening breaths on his lips.

“What do you say, friend?” he asked, emphasizing the  _ friend _ with a teasing tone.

“Yes,” Byleth said breathlessly. “I’ve missed you so much. More… more than I know how to say.”

“Isn’t that my line? You were dead for five years after all.”

“I wasn’t… I- I don’t know what happened. To me it was like the attack on Garreg Mach was a few days ago, and yet I feel like I haven’t seen you in years.”

“Hm. Well, I’d like an explanation for what exactly you think happened to you. But later. Right now I have more important questions, such as ‘How long are you going to wait before you take me to your quarters and kiss me senseless?’”

Yuri thought his flirtatiousness would fluster Byleth a bit. In the past whenever he had flirted, even as a joke, Byleth had blushed and been unable to even look him in the eye for a few minutes. The way it was so easy to reduce this intimidating, stone-cold mercenary into a stammering mess was one of Yuri’s favorite things about him. But now it seemed like Byleth wasn’t surprised or suspicious of his advances, almost like he was confident in Yuri’s desire for him.

What changed in him during these years? He hadn’t aged a day and his manner seemed much the same. But that self-assurance and passion – that was certainly new and Yuri did not understand what it was built off of. For the moment, though, he didn’t care. He would get all his answers in time. For now, he not only had Byleth back alive, he had him in his arms, melting under his touch, wanting him the way Yuri had wanted him for so long. 

Despite his faith in the goddess, Yuri did not believe in miracles. But he did believe in luck and also in seizing the opportunities it gave him.

He leaned in and brushed his lips against Byleth’s in a soft, lingering a kiss too light to be satisfying. It did the trick. As he pulled back, Byleth stepped away from the wall and took Yuri’s hand, leading him eagerly out of the classroom.

Yuri expected him to let go when they walked into the halls of the Abyss. There weren’t many people around these days but there were at least some and rumors would spread. And he certainly expected Byleth to let go when they reached the surface and stepped out into the bustling courtyard of the monastery.

But Byleth clutched his hand like a lifeline and completely ignored the greetings called out by several passersby.

“Professor!” Sylvain exclaimed when he caught sight of them right before they made it to Byleth’s quarters. “There you are!”

As Sylvain’s gaze wandered over to him, Yuri gave him a conspiratorial wink. Sylvain smiled in return, immediately picking up on what was going on with the perceptiveness of an experienced fellow flirt.

“Seteth and Gilbert were looking for you, but I’ll tell them you’re sleeping and not to bother you. You deserve some rest after our fight today,” Sylvain said politely. 

“Thank you,” Byleth said solemnly and continued towards his quarters. As they walked away, Yuri glanced over his shoulder at Sylvain, who gave him a thumbs-up and mischievous grin.

Yuri laughed then turned his attention back to Byleth. “Careful. People are going to talk. Their beloved role model professor hooking up with that shifty, no-good Ashen Wolf? That’s some gossip.”

“Hooking up?” Byleth asked in confusion. He led Yuri into his room and closed the door behind them, drawing the curtains. 

Yuri looked at him curiously. “What did you bring me here for then? A cup of tea?”

“Yes, actually. All I have is mint, which I know isn’t your favorite. But rations are slim right now,” Byleth said, measuring tea leaves into a pot and heating it with a fire spell. 

“Wait, I thought-”

Byleth set down the teapot and walked back over to him, cradling his face in his hands gently and kissing him. “I was… disoriented. I’m sorry. I didn’t realize that I’d never kissed you before. I will slow down.”

Yuri’s heart fell with disappointment. “Why?”

“Because you apparently think I want a hookup from you, not that I actually…” He struggled for words and Yuri waited patiently, knowing that sometimes Byleth needed time to figure out how to express emotions. With actions, he could make things clear, but with words he was less adept.

“That I love you,” he finished matter-of-factly.

Yuri stared at him wide-eyed.

“We have a war ahead of us. I don’t want you going into danger without knowing how loved you are. I don’t want either of us to die with regrets,” Byleth added.

Too many times to count, Yuri had heard the word  _ love _ spoken to him. It had lost much of its meaning over the years. But he had never heard Byleth use the word about anyone or anything. And when he said it now – gravely, almost reverently – Yuri felt like it was the first time anyone had told him that.

He had a hundred different quips and evasive replies in his repertoire for moments like this, but before he could weigh the pros and cons of any of them and choose one, he blurted out, “I love you too.”

Although Yuri was astonished at his own confession, Byleth didn’t look surprised at all. He just smiled. And it wasn’t the small, reluctant smiles Yuri had drawn before from him with his jokes and antics. No, it was a smile he’d never seen before, one so warm and unhesitating it left him staring at Byleth like he had been hit by a spell.

“I love you,” Yuri repeated, though he wasn’t sure why. He felt lightheaded from the constant tide of surprises sweeping away any illusion of control or understanding he had had of the situation. 

Forgetting completely about the tea, he pulled Byleth over to the bed and tugged him down to lie beside him. Yuri wrapped his arms around him tightly and kissed him until the giddy haze in his head cleared a bit and it began to feel real to be here with him, to be wanted, loved.

“I really was born under a lucky star,” Yuri whispered, brushing his fingertips across Byleth’s cheek fondly. 

Byleth caught his hand and raised it to his lips in a slightly awkward but sweet, old-fashioned gesture of affection that made Yuri smile.

“What’s gotten into you?” he asked Byleth. “I’ve never seen you like this.”

“Like what?”

Yuri paused thoughtfully until he found the right word. “Unhesitating.”

Byleth’s smile faded. “Life is unpredictable. I don’t want to waste a single day with you.”

The fact that this was his second reference to some vague dread of them dying did not escape Yuri. Byleth had never feared death before, to the point where it infuriated him. He had warned Byleth about being less reckless in battle many times before when he saw that he was all too willing to sacrifice himself for his students and comrades.

What happened to him?

Now Yuri had even more questions.

“That may be true,” Yuri replied. “But I have no intention of dying anytime soon. I have things I need to accomplish first.”

“Then I will do my best to keep you safe so you can live to accomplish them.”

“I’ve survived this long. I reckon I’ll make it another twenty years at least,” Yuri said. “Do you really doubt that?”

“I just… I can’t shake this sense of dread. It’s nagging in the back of my mind, like we’re in danger but I can’t remember from what.”

“Your long sleep has addled your brain a bit, it seems.”

“I’ve always been a bit addled, I guess,” he admitted.

Yuri laughed and the sound seemed to clear the air a bit because the warmth returned to Byleth’s smile. 

“A bit?” Yuri said. “You’ve been off your rocker ever since we met. But don’t worry; it’s part of your charm.”

“I don’t have charm. You’re the charming one.”

“Oh you have plenty of charm, in your own way. Do you think I’d fancy you if you didn’t?”

“I figured you were just a bit off too,” he said.

“Thanks.”

Yuri did his best to keep that smile on Byleth’s face as they continued to talk and when conversation gave way to kissing and exploring each other’s bodies, he still tried to keep Byleth’s mind in the moment and not focused on the dread that seemed to weigh him down whenever he began to think.

And when Byleth finally fell asleep in his arms, Yuri held him carefully, examining him with his healing magic, searching for injuries or damage that would explain why Byleth seemed so drained and unsettled. Unable to figure out its cause other than stress, he finally gave up and relaxed, kissing Byleth’s forehead softly and whispering, “You need to take better care of yourself, friend. I’m here now to help with that.”

It had been too surreal and puzzling of a day for Yuri’s mind to quiet easily and he lay awake for some time, idly stroking Byleth’s back and taking comfort in the steady sound of his sleeping breaths.

At some point during their evening, Byleth had shed his coat and shirt. They had not gone much further than that, due to Byleth’s insistence on taking it slow. As much as it frustrated Yuri who found it all too easy to get carried away when Byleth’s strong hands were running over his body and his skin was hot against his, he couldn’t help but enjoy the unfamiliar sting of disappointment. 

He had never been with someone who didn’t rush, whose main objective was not to just to be pleased or have the bragging rights of bedding the mysterious, sensual Yuri Leclerc with his ‘dancer body’ and ‘blow-job eyes.’ It was strange to not have the same sexual power over Byleth that he had over others. It was strange to be told to slow down. And yet, as much as he was used to being a conquest and appreciated the power of that position, it was also something he despised.

All the same, Yuri did hope that Byleth’s definition of  _ slow _ wasn’t too slow.

He tucked a stray strand of pale green hair out of Byleth’s eyes and kissed the top of his head.

He was so strange, and so beautiful. At times his straightforward, almost awkward manners made Yuri laugh. But other times that same frankness and lack of awareness for the little social games most people played was more than just amusing. It was moving – genuinely so. Byleth would face down the goddess herself and tell her to fuck off if she did something to offend him. For that reason, the word  _ love _ carried weight coming from him. He certainly wouldn’t say it if he didn’t mean it absolutely.

Byleth shifted in his sleep and mumbled something incoherent. Yuri watched for a moment as he tossed and turned a bit more, and was right about to wake him up in case he was having a nightmare when Byleth bolted up wide-awake with a gasp. His chest heaving with panicked breaths, he looked over at Yuri with wild, frantic eyes.

“What is it? What’s wrong?” Yuri asked.

Byleth opened his mouth to answer but couldn’t find the words so instead he wrapped his arms around Yuri and buried his face in his neck.

“Hey,” Yuri whispered, rubbing small, soothing circles into his back. “Bad dream? What was it about?”

“It was just a dream,” Byleth murmured against his skin. He sighed and lifted his head to look at Yuri. His manner was calm and lucid now, but his expression was drawn tight with pain. “You’re alive. That’s all that matters. It wasn’t real.”

“I died in your dream? How dramatic,” Yuri said with a teasing smile. “Allow me to reassure you that I am very much alive and very much here with you, in your bed, all yours.” 

He took Byleth’s face in his hands and kissed him deeply until the tension eased from Byleth’s body and he kissed him back with abandon.


	2. The Last Pulse

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Day Two prompt: Soulmate
> 
> Excerpt:
> 
>  _Jeralt, Edelgard, Hubert, Rodrigue… There are some people you can’t save,_ a familiar voice murmured in the back of his head. Was it Sothis? He couldn’t tell. He could barely think, could barely breathe.
> 
> Byleth bowed his head and gave up trying to hold back his tears, letting them slip down his face and fall onto Yuri’s bloody skin. 
> 
> It was true. He hadn’t been able to save the others. Maybe Yuri was destined to be the next and most painful name on the list of people he had failed.
> 
>  _His does not seem to be a fate easily avoided like saving someone from the random swing of an axe on the battlefield,_ the voice said. _But your soul is bound to his. You have to keep trying._
> 
> “I will. Please, just let me-”
> 
> _You only have one more shot. Make it count._

##  2 – The Last Pulse

###  Horsebow Moon, 1186

  
  


Yuri’s tea had gone cold ages ago but he didn’t seem to notice. He could barely sit still or stay quiet, talking, laughing, glancing constantly at the engagement ring on his finger, and flashing those wonderful smiles at Byleth that were so genuine and beautiful it gave him life every time he saw them.

It seemed almost wrong to be so giddy and happy in the wake of a long and bloody war. But what had they all fought for if not the chance to find joy and love once they restored peace to Fódlan? Byleth couldn’t bring himself to feel guilty for how incandescently happy he felt. They had all suffered enough and lived for so long in darkness.

Now it was time for the light. 

“Lost in thought again,” Yuri said and Byleth glanced over at him and smiled.

“Sorry.”

“Don’t be sorry. I like a man who thinks every once in a while.”

“I thought you just liked me for my pretty face,” he replied and Yuri laughed.

Byleth still felt shy and strange trying to make jokes around Yuri. He didn’t have Yuri’s playful nature and quick wits, but he loved making him laugh, even if his attempts to do so were still tentative and a bit awkward. 

Being raised amongst a troop of raucous mercenaries meant that Byleth had never been able to get a word in edgewise and never really learned the ins and outs of humor and conversation. But his years around the Blue Lions were rubbing off on him and he found that he was comfortable enough now to at least try.

“Oh it’s not your face that I like you for,” Yuri said, arching an eyebrow and giving him a crooked smile.

Byleth felt his hand reach over under the table to slide up his leg and he blushed, casting a quick glance around the terrace.

“We’re alone,” Yuri said. “Just you and me, here in a beautiful garden, drunk off our victory, newly-engaged, young, dumb and in love. If you try to talk me out of getting down on my knees under this table and-”

It happened so quickly Byleth could barely process it.

A warp spell flickered in the air and a cloaked figure materialized behind Yuri.

Blood spattered across the table as a knife slashed Yuri’s throat.

The figure vanished.

Yuri collapsed.

Jumping to his feet, Byleth shoved the little garden table aside and lunged over to Yuri. Blood was already soaking him and Byleth frantically called upon his healing magic and clamped his hand over the vicious wound on Yuri’s throat, trying to fuse it back together. But it was so deep it would take an expert healer to save him. By the time Byleth’s spell repaired the damage, Yuri had lost so much blood he was barely conscious and he still wasn’t breathing.

“Hang on,” Byleth pleaded. “You’re going to be alright. Just hold on!” He looked around desperately for signs of anyone nearby.

“HELP! I NEED A HEALER! HELP!” he yelled but no one came.

“Hold on, my love,” he gasped, reaching out with his magic to try to stabilize him.

But it wasn’t just the bloodloss that was killing Yuri. When Byleth concentrated, he could sense a strange magic creeping through him like a poison. 

“HELP!” he screamed again.

Yuri’s eyes fluttered closed and Byleth knew that his magic was not going to be enough to cure the wound and whatever magical poison the blade had been coated with. 

Withdrawing his faith magic, Byleth took a deep breath to steady himself and exhaled it slowly. He clutched Yuri’s limp body in his arms and pressed a kiss against his lips. “I’m not losing you,” he whispered.

Every time he cast the spell Sothis had taught him, he worried it might be the last time. He didn’t understand how it worked, nor how many times he could use this miracle before it hit its limit. But he prayed he could use it at least one more time.

Focusing all his will and magic on the spell, he cast the pulse and felt his soul and body being torn away from the present and thrust back into the past of a moment ago.

“We’re alone,” Yuri said, a provocative smile on his lips that would have normally made Byleth go weak in the knees. “Just you and me, here in a beautiful garden, drunk off our victory, newly-engaged, young, dumb and in-”

“Get down!” Byleth shouted and leapt forward, tackling Yuri to the ground and sheltering him with his body. 

“What the- what are you-” Yuri gasped.

“Listen to me,” he said insistently. “You’re not safe here. There’s an assassin coming for you! Just hold on, I’ll protect you.”

He clung to Yuri and waited for the warp spell and the blade, but nothing happened.

“By,” Yuri said softly. “It’s alright. We’re alone here. Get off me and we’ll go inside, okay?”

Every sense strained and on the alert, Byleth stood up slowly and surveyed their surroundings. But there was no sign of any attackers nor flicker of warp spells.

Drawing his sword, he motioned for Yuri to walk in front of him. “I’ll guard your back. Come on.”

Yuri drew his sword too and carefully, they left the open garden and retreated into the safety of Dimitri’s palace. With agonizing care, Byleth escorted Yuri hallway by hallway, room by room until they came to the chamber set aside for their use. Locking the door behind them, Byleth led Yuri over to the corner of the room where no one could attack him from behind and said, “Wait here. Keep your sword drawn.”

Yuri watched him with a wary, pained look on his face. “By, listen to me. We’re safe here.”

“Someone could warp in,” he replied. “We’re never really safe from magic.”

There was only one window in the room and Byleth bolted it shut and drew the curtains. He paced nervously around the room for a moment, going over theories in his mind as to who might be after Yuri and how they could have known exactly where he would be to be able to warp into the middle of Fhirdiad and attack him. Also why would they come now that the war was over? What was this person fighting for? Revenge? 

“By,” Yuri said. “Come here.”

Byleth looked at him and Yuri’s entreating look won him over. He stopped pacing and walked over to Yuri, who sheathed his sword and held out his arms.

“No, I have to stay on my guard,” Byleth said. “They could-”

“Who?” Yuri asked. “There was no one there.”

“There was, but I-” Byleth stopped abruptly, catching himself before he gave Yuri an answer that could have potentially devastating consequences.

He had learned the hard way what telling someone this truth could lead to. During the academy days, he had had to use the pulse’s power to save Dimitri on the battlefield but Dimitri had noticed something strange about the miraculous act and asked him about it. Not wanting to lie to someone he considered a friend, Byleth had told him the truth. He knew Dimitri believed in the goddess and hoped he would believe him.

And Dimitri had believed him but that had proved to be more disastrous than him thinking Byleth was crazy.

He had asked a hundred questions, growing more distressed with each one. If Byleth had this power, why hadn’t he used it to save other people who had died on the battlefield? Why didn’t he use it to prevent every tragic thing that happened? How could anyone trust Byleth when he could use such an inhuman power to manipulate events to his whim?

Unable to explain anything and terrified of losing Dimitri’s trust, Byleth had cast the spell one last time that day and gone back to the beginning of the conversation. When Dimitri asked him that time, he had evaded the question. And he’d sworn to never reveal the strange ability Sothis had given him to anyone again.

If someone knew the truth, they could blame him for everything that went wrong that he failed to stop. Or they could ask him to use it for their own aims. And Byleth knew that if he used this power too tritely, he could lose it. Sothis had given it to him for one reason alone: to protect the people he loved.

“I’ve been in enough fights,” Byleth said. “I know when to trust my instincts. There was someone nearby and you were in danger. I can’t explain it, but I felt it strongly.”

“I don’t take my safety lightly. I know to keep an eye out for daggers in my back,” Yuri replied. “But I also know when to relax. I have spies all over Fhirdiad. If someone was plotting an attempt on my life or yours, I would know it. Trust me.”

Byleth couldn’t bring himself to sheathe his sword but he forced the intensity in his manner to ease a bit lest he frighten Yuri.

“I do trust your instincts in battle,” Yuri continued gently. “I trust them with my life. But we’re not in battle anymore. It will take us both time to let that sink in, I know. But it’s true. In the meantime, I don’t want old habits to ruin what moments we have to be happy.”

When Byleth still didn’t sheathe his sword, Yuri sighed and walked over to the bed. He sat down, propping some pillows up against the headboard, and patted the sheets next to him. “Come sit with me for a bit. You can keep your sword nearby and we will keep an eye out for anything. But we will also talk and enjoy some time to ourselves as well. Deal?”

Byleth nodded and sat down next to Yuri. He wanted to go to Dimitri and ask that the entire palace be searched for intruders. He wanted to investigate and find who could be behind such an act, but he also couldn’t bear to leave Yuri’s side and as long as he was here to watch over him, he’d be safe.

Yuri snuggled up closer to Byleth and put his arm around his shoulders, kissing his cheek. “If you don’t want to talk, I will sing you something.”

“You hate singing,” Byleth said.

“I think I’m going to make an exception for you from now on. I’m told my voice is soothing. I mean, if you want, you can sing for me, but I’ve heard you try to lead a choir practice and I’ll just say it’s a good thing they say Seiros is a forgiving goddess because…”

Byleth looked over at him with a hurt expression and Yuri laughed.

“I’m sorry. I refuse to build this marriage on a foundation of lies,” Yuri said. “But don’t worry. I can teach you to sing. You’re a quick learner. I’m sure you’ll get the hang of it.”

After joking around for another couple minutes, Yuri began to sing, softly at first then as he grew more comfortable he sang more clearly and with more confidence, his beautiful voice chasing away the tense shadow of dread hanging over Byleth.

As time passed, his grip on his sword hilt loosened and he started to struggle to remember what he had been so worried about to begin with. Was the assassin just a figment of his imagination? When he tried to picture exactly what happened, the memory grew hazier and hazier.

By the time several hours had passed, Byleth had forgotten the details of it altogether. The unsettling sense of caution continued to rest in the back of his mind, but he eventually set his sword aside and focused his attention fully on Yuri. 

As night fell and they settled in for bed, Byleth called for guards to be stationed outside their room just to be safe, but he had long ago forgotten exactly what it was he was guarding against.

He remembered when he woke in the middle of the night to the sound of a choked cry, the sight of a knife slashing through Yuri’s throat, and the flicker of a warp spell as the assassin vanished.

He tried to heal the wound, but he failed to overcome the damage of the poison. He yelled for help but by the time other healers got to them, Yuri was dead. As Byleth held his blood-soaked body in his arms and felt tears burning in his eyes, he gritted his teeth and called upon the magic of the pulse another time.

The second time, Yuri survived for a full day before he fell prey again to the assassin’s attack.

The third time, it was only a few hours. Byleth’s grip on reality was weakening, strained by using the power so desperately and the repeated trauma of watching the man he loved slaughtered before his eyes.

The fourth time, he made it half a day.

The fifth time it was barely a quarter of an hour.

Cradling Yuri’s dead body in his arms, Byleth begged the goddess to give him one more chance. He could barely feel Sothis’s power within him anymore, exhausted as he was. But he knew he had to keep trying until he drained every shred of magic and life from his body.

“Please,” he whispered. “I can do it this time. I have to. Please, just one more try.”

_ Jeralt, Edelgard, Hubert, Rodrigue… There are some people you can’t save _ , a familiar voice murmured in the back of his head. Was it Sothis? He couldn’t tell. He could barely think, could barely breathe.

Byleth bowed his head and gave up trying to hold back his tears, letting them slip down his face and fall onto Yuri’s bloody skin. 

It was true. He hadn’t been able to save the others. Maybe Yuri was fated to be the next and most painful name on the list of people he had failed.

_ His does not seem to be a fate easily avoided like saving someone from the random swing of an axe on the battlefield, _ the voice said.  _ But your soul is bound to his. You have to keep trying. _

“I will. Please, just let me-”

_ You only have one more shot. Make it count. _

Byleth gasped as the pulse seized him. This time it wasn’t the familiar painful tug pulling him back to the past of a few minutes ago. It was agony, every fiber of his being ripping apart and hurtling his consciousness into a void of blinding light.


	3. Partners in Crime

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Day Four prompt: Name/Trust
> 
> For a while now, Byleth has been helping Yuri out with his business in managing his gang. Now Byleth asks Yuri for help with his business: winning a war and rebuilding Fódlan once they have.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm a day late with this one, but I'm trying to catch up! I've read some fantastic Yurileth stuff this week and am hella inspired. If you guys haven't read A Path All Your Own by DragonGem777, exit out of my silly fic and go read that instead because it is TOP SHELF Yurileth content. Absolutely A+ 10/10

##  3 – Partners in Crime

###  Lone Moon, 1185

  
  


Yuri jumped up and grabbed the top of the fence, hoisting himself over it and dropping down to the ground on the other side. Meanwhile, Byleth vaulted over it with far less effort. Damn those long legs of his.

“Come on,” he hissed, grabbing Byleth’s arm and tugging him into an alleyway. He navigated the narrow, moonlit side streets with ease, the entire map of the city ingrained into his memory as if it were a map drawn on his hand. When he was certain they had lost the members of the rival gang that had been chasing after them, he stopped to catch his breath, one hand clutching his side, the other still holding onto Byleth’s arm.

Yuri laughed and said, “That was close.”

“Why is it that your ‘business trips’ always end up like this?” Byleth asked with a small smile.

“Like what? With a brisk, refreshing jog? What’s so wrong with that? Besides, here we are alone in the moonlight…” Still panting for breath, he stepped forward and backed Byleth into the wall, leaning in until his mouth was inches from his. “That’s not so bad, is it?”

There were many things about Byleth that Yuri loved, and the way a good dose of adrenaline got him going was certainly one of them. Byleth grabbed Yuri’s shirt collar and tugged him in for a kiss, his lips hungry and longing. Yuri slipped his tongue into his mouth and Byleth moaned quietly around it.

Oh, that was new. 

Excitement rushed through Yuri’s body at the sound. Byleth hardly made a noise normally no matter what Yuri did to him. It wasn’t from lack of enjoyment, but rather lack of comfort, Yuri thought. It wasn’t Byleth’s way to relax and be vulnerable like that easily. The fact a simple kiss had him moaning now was definite progress and the tiny act of trust made Yuri eager to earn more.

But he had no intentions of fucking the man he loved in a dirty alleyway, so he stepped back before they could get too carried away and took delight for a moment in the crestfallen expression on Byleth’s face.

“Come, friend,” he said, holding out his hand. “Back to the inn.”

Byleth took his hand, intertwining their fingers, and held onto it firmly as they made their way through the city to the nondescript little inn they were staying at. It was the kind of place Yuri would never have dreamed of taking any of the noble students at Garreg Mach to, but he couldn’t afford to stay somewhere nicer and besides, he liked being in the seedy part of town nearer to his gang members. He felt no need to distance himself from his people and his roots. He was glad that Byleth did not bat an eyelash at the drab inn with its stale win and drafty rooms. A life on the road as a mercenary must not have been too luxurious. 

As they retired to their room, Byleth stripped off his clothes and collapsed into the bed, nestling into the pillows sleepily. 

“Your line of work is exhausting,” he said.

“And being the chief tactician in a war isn’t?”

“I at least get days off.”

“I’m grateful you spend them here with me working. I can use the help. With times so volatile, there’s more work to be done than me and my people can handle. Just trying to hold one town together while it’s falling apart at the seams is a tremendous effort. When you win this war, you’re going to have to do that for the whole continent. I don’t envy you that.”

“You talk like war is my business the way this is yours and the two are separate,” Byleth pointed out.

“They are, although the war does affect my business.”

His brow furrowed a bit and he sat up and looked at Yuri intently. “I’d like us to work together, not just now, but…”

Yuri sat down next to him and studied Byleth’s expression as he struggled for words. “But after the war too,” he finished for him and Byleth nodded.

“I want to help you, but I also want your help,” he said.

“I’m not cut out to rule countries or churches,” Yuri replied. “Sorry. You’ll need a different man for that and good luck finding one. Your options at the moment are rather limited. I’d say your best bet is probably Ferdinand or Sylvain. They both come off a bit silly but they’ve been trained for government and have good brains in their heads once you get past the-”

“No,” Byleth said. “I mean, I’ll need everyone’s help to repair our lands once this is over, but I specifically want you by my side, for your advice and insight. And I want you to speak your mind in war counsels too. I value your thoughts. They help me see situations in a new light. That is an incredible advantage.”

“War counsel is for nobles, not fraudulent adopted ones,” Yuri replied with a vague smile and casual wave of his hand.

“War counsel is for people with smarts and experience, and you have a lot more of those than half the people at the council table making plans. I’m not pressuring you to do something you don’t want, but the offer is there. You are worth far more than just your sword or your spells, Yuri. I value those things, but they aren’t the only things I value in you.”

His earnest manner flustered Yuri a bit and he glanced away from Byleth’s frank gaze with a nervous, breathy laugh. “Oh I’m sure the future margraves and dukes of Faerghus will love having street-rat Yuri there spouting off his very uneducated opinions.”

“I don’t give a fuck whether they will like it or not. I want to win this war and bring peace back to Fódlan and I think your smart mind can help with that.”

Yuri brushed a strand of hair out of Byleth’s eyes and smiled at him. “Stop calling me smart; it’s making me blush. Just stick to complimenting my looks like everyone else. I’m used to that and I know how to respond to it cleverly.”

“No,” Byleth said firmly and reached over to gather Yuri into his arms. Laying him down on his back, Byleth climbed on top of him and kissed him deeply.

Despite how tired they were, the excitement of the day kept their energy going and soon their clothes were scattered on the floor next to the bed and Yuri was clamping a hand over Byleth’s mouth to muffle the moans he was drawing from him. Once he broke through that barrier, it seemed that Byleth’s self-consciousness vanished altogether. It was incredible and Yuri made a promise to himself that he would take Byleth somewhere with thick walls and no one around to hear so he could find out all the different wonderful, intimate noises of pleasure he could elicit.

It was well past midnight by the time they were finally satisfied and when they tugged the sheets up over their naked bodies and relaxed into the pillows, Byleth fell asleep quickly, a contented expression on his face. 

Yuri drifted off soon after but awoke some time later to Byleth tossing and turning restlessly. He had become used to Byleth’s frequent nightmares by now and learned how to soothe him without waking him and startling him.

“Sshh,” he whispered, stroking his hair and pressing a kiss to his forehead. “Sshh, my love. It’s just a dream. I’m right here. We’re safe at the moment.”

Byleth’s face twisted with a look of anguish and Yuri cupped his cheek in his hand. “Hey, whatever it is, it isn’t real. I’m right here and I love you. You’re safe.”

The pain and fear eased from Byleth’s expression but as he snuggled instinctively into Yuri’s arms, he whispered something that made Yuri freeze stock-still, his heart pounding with panic.

Was he imagining things or had Byleth just mumbled his name? Not  _ Yuri Leclerc _ . No, his real name. The one that Yuri himself hadn’t spoken aloud in years. Not even his closest friends like Hapi and Ashe knew that name. And certainly none of his enemies did. How could Byleth know it? Had he done research and dug up some means of finding it out? He had the resources now that he practically ran the church. 

But it seemed unlike Byleth to search around in secret. He had asked outright and Yuri had promised to tell him someday. That had seemed enough for Byleth.

Besides, he hadn’t spoken the name like it was a threat or leverage of some kind. His tone wasn’t smug, like he had won a game or learnt a secret. It was just… fond, gentle, the tone of someone bidding goodnight to their lover. 

Tears blurred Yuri’s eyes and he wiped them away furiously. He never thought he would hear his real name spoken like that by anyone ever again. Even when he had promised to tell Byleth someday, it didn’t mean he intended to do it anytime soon. No matter how sincerely Byleth had earned his trust, there were many levels to these things and to give away a secret held so close for so long was a far deeper act of trust even than the love and vulnerability he showed to Byleth already.

But the simple sound of that name on Byleth’s lips evoked such intense emotion in Yuri that it frightened him. He hadn’t quite realized how much he yearned for someone to earn his trust enough to be told that name, how much he yearned to hear it spoken without judgment or fear or astonishment… just love.

Just when Yuri was beginning to think he had Byleth’s mysteries figured out, here was yet another.

He looked at Byleth’s sleeping face, now peacefully blank, and forced the emotions coursing through him to calm. As much as it had stirred up longing to hear his name, it had also provoked anxiety and Yuri needed a clear head if he was going to figure this out.

Byleth shifted and pulled Yuri closer, tucking his head in the crook of Yuri’s neck. Relaxing around him, Yuri rested his cheek on Byleth’s head and lay awake, lost in thought but comforted by the steadying warmth of Byleth’s arms.

By morning he had decided three things:

He needed to know how Byleth found out his name, for that information being accessible in any way was a liability he needed to rectify.

He trusted Byleth to tell him when he asked.

And finally: he hoped desperately that whatever answer Byleth gave him did not break his faith in him because more than anything he wanted to hear Byleth say his name again, only this time awake and to his face. He wanted to see the look in Byleth’s eyes as he said it and reassure himself that he accepted Yuri’s identity and loved him all the same for it.

Was that too much to hope for?


	4. Broken Trust/Healed Wounds

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Day 4 prompt: Break  
> Day 5 prompt: Injury
> 
> Combining the two prompts, in this chapter Byleth recovers from grave injuries at Gronder Field that he suffered when he tried to save someone using his divine pulse and it failed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'd like to personally apologize first to Mr. Felix Hugo Fraldarius for having him suffer grievous, life-altering injuries in this story. Please know, Felix, that I adore you with all my heart, you are still my favorite student, and that I only chose you for this little role because I know you are tough enough to keep on fighting even after such an injury.  
> P.S. It was going to be Sylvain, but I think you and I can both agree that Sylvain has suffered enough. So take one for the team, Felix. Thanks.

## 4 – Broken Trust/Healed Wounds

### Great Tree Moon, 1186

Byleth knew he was frightening Yuri, frightening everyone. Yuri might be the one kneeling beside him, tending to his wounds with expert healing spells cast by gentle hands, but he could see silhouettes outside his tent and hear the murmured voices of others outside waiting for news on his condition.

He had never fallen in battle before like he had today. And Gronder had been a horrifying enough day. The last thing everyone needed was to be worrying about him. Yet he couldn’t bring himself to get up and shrug off the pain and stir from his shell-shocked daze.

_“Is he going to be okay?”_

_“Yuri said it’s pretty bad.”_

_“Hapi said he was right there when Felix… She said he would have died if Byleth hadn’t gotten there in time.”_

_“In time? Felix lost his arm, Ashe! His whole arm! Sure, Mercy was able to fuse it back on, but you know it’ll never be the same. He’ll have to learn to fight one-handed and…”_

_“It’s unlike the professor to be so slow. Normally he’d see an attack like that coming and get Felix out of harm’s way in time.”_

Byleth could hear voices arguing outside his tent, although he was too hazy to place whose was whose. Then Felix’s unmistakable sharp tone cut through them. “Stop gossiping and leave him the fuck alone!”

“Felix, you need to be resting! Good goddess, what are you doing up?” Ingrid argued but Felix apparently ignored her because a second later he burst into the tent. 

He stood in the doorway, staring wordlessly, and when Byleth forced himself to come back to reality enough to look up at him, he couldn’t tell if it was fury or concern on Felix’s face. Most of his emotions looked like anger on the surface and Byleth was too tired to search for the subtle cues that showed his true thoughts and feelings.

“You think I can’t fight one-armed? I use a sword not a fucking battleaxe,” Felix demanded. “I can learn to fight with one hand! You know what we can’t learn to do without? Your stupid ass. So don’t go throwing yourself into the jaws of death to save one measly arm, alright? That’s ridiculous. You’re supposed to be smart. Don’t start being an idiot now! We have a war to win!”

“Felix,” Yuri said quietly. “You need rest as much as he does. Please, go.”

“No, I-” Byleth protested, although he had no idea what it was he wanted to say. He glanced away from Felix for a moment to gather his thoughts and force his sluggish mind to think. When he made eye contact again, he could see a little better the fear behind Felix’s scowl. “I’m sorry,” he said. “I thought I had the situation under control. I didn’t.”

“That’s all you have to say for yourself?” Felix asked.

Byleth nodded. What else was there to be said? He had failed.

He had placed his faith in the divine pulse and had the rug yanked from beneath his feet when the spell did not work. It haunted him still: the horror he had felt in that moment. It was like the plummeting sensation of free fall that makes you lurch awake right as you drift off to sleep. He had taken a step, trusting on Sothis’s magic, and been met with empty air.

Of course, he was careless to count on it in the first place. He should never have allowed Felix to be in such a dangerous position where it would take an act of the goddess to pull him out should something go catastrophically wrong, as it had. By the time Byleth had realized the pulse was not working, he had had no time to think, so he had reacted purely on instinct and thrown himself in harm’s way to protect him. Even then, it hadn’t been enough. Felix had still been dragged off the battlefield by a distraught Sylvain, his arm all but severed from the swing of an axe he had not been able to evade.

The haunting depth of that failure was so great that even the relief of seeing Felix here with two arms, albeit one swathed in bloodied bandages, could not assuage it.

Yuri got up and started to intervene and ask Felix to leave again when Sylvain shoved his way into the tent and literally scooped Felix off his feet, carrying him out while chiding him for escaping Mercedes’s makeshift infirmary. It was a testament to Felix’s wounds and exhaustion that Sylvain got away with that without an indignant tirade.

“Everything okay in here, Yuri-bird?” Hapi asked, stepping into the tent. “You need me to stand outside and be the bouncer?”

Yuri hugged her and Byleth could see the strain of the day evidenced in the way Yuri uncharacteristically clung to her. She patted his back and murmured, “Whatever you need, I’m here, okay?”

“Some fresh water and food. Something simple and warm,” he said, stepping back and taking a deep breath to steady himself. “Thank you.”

“I’m on it.” Hapi glanced over at Byleth and nodded. “I’m gonna find you the least revolting camp food we’ve got, Chatterbox. Just shut up for a bit and rest, will you?”

Byleth smiled faintly and nodded.

Hapi smiled back for a moment then left and Yuri returned to his spot next to Byleth’s bedroll.

“I’ve repaired the physical damage, but such extensive healing spells will take their toll. You lost a lot of blood. Your fever has gone away for now, but you need to stay hydrated and try to eat something,” Yuri said with the stiff, analytical manner of a physician.

Byleth gave him a questioning look and watched as he grew even more tense.

“What?” Yuri asked.

“Are you angry with me too?” 

“I’m not going to barge around yelling at you like Felix, if that’s what you’re worried about. I don’t explode with my emotions like he does. I…”

“You implode. I’ve seen it before. Tell me what I can do. I-”

“You can at least make some attempt to not die; that’s a start,” Yuri snapped. When Byleth didn’t reply, he continued, his words pouring out, his tone slightly gentler now, his anger replaced with anxiety. “You’ve said from the beginning that you feared one of us dying and that you were going to do everything in your power to prevent that. Then here you go throwing your life away like all of that, like it meant nothing. Like I meant…” He sighed in frustration and said in a low voice, constrained with emotion, “Don’t ever make me write your name in my book, By. Don’t you fucking dare make me do that – not after you pushed your way into my life and made me trust you and love you and…”

“Yuri,” he said softly. “Look at me.”

Yuri kept his eyes averted, staring at the wall of the tent with his jaw clenched.

“Yuri, please.”

Finally, Yuri met his gaze, his lavender eyes glistening.

“I’m sorry,” he said.

“I’m not big on apologies, By. When I forgive you, it won’t be because you apologized. It’ll be because I saw that you don’t intend to do something so reckless again.”

His use of _when_ not _if_ comforted Byleth and he nodded solemnly. “I understand.”

“The world would be a far sadder, emptier place without Felix Fraldarius and if he died in battle, we all would mourn him. He’s a good man and a great friend, to me and to all of us. But if you died… It wouldn’t just be the death of one good man. It would be the death of a hopeful future for Fódlan. As much as it scares me to admit this, I’ve realized lately that you are an instrumental part of making my own dreams reality too. I need you. We all do. So don’t for one moment think that your life is less valuable than anyone else’s.”

“You don’t need me for your dreams. You are strong enough on your own to make them happen,” Byleth said.

“Maybe. I hope so. But even if I can do it alone, I don’t want to anymore.”

Although even the slightest movement sent pain shooting through his body, Byleth picked up Yuri’s hand weakly and raised it to his lips. “I love you, Yuri Leclerc. I will not leave you alone. I will stand by your side and be a part of your dream. You have my word.”

The tears threatening Yuri this whole time broke free and slipped down his cheeks. He yanked his hand out of Byleth’s and hid his face behind his hands.

“Why do you still use that name for me?” he asked.

Byleth stared at him in confusion. “What?”

“You know my real name. Why are you still pretending you don’t? Please, By. You want me to trust you again? Give me an answer to something at least.”

“I don’t know your name. You haven’t told me. You said you would when we had accomplished your dream. I have quite a lot of work to do first before I’ve earned it.”

“Don’t play coy with me. I heard you say it a month ago. I’ve been trying to figure out how you found out ever since. I didn’t want to ask you until I already knew the answer myself so I could tell if you were lying or not,” he said.

The idea that he had already lost a bit of Yuri’s trust stunned Byleth. He had had no idea. Was he really so bad at reading him? He thought he had learned Yuri’s mannerisms and cues so well. 

“I don’t know it,” he insisted. “I never tried to find out. I swear to you.”

“You said it in your sleep. Did I mishear you? Did you make the world’s luckiest guess?”

“In my sleep?”

Byleth’s whole body went cold, despite the lingering effects of the fever. He withdrew into himself as terror gripped him at the ramifications of Yuri’s statement.

Ever since he woke from his five-year sleep and reunited with Yuri, he had been plagued with nightmares of Yuri dying – variations of the same scene, but the setting was vague and he didn’t understand who killed him. It seemed like the subconscious manifestation of his fears, nothing more. But if he had known something in his dream that he had no way of knowing in reality… 

He remembered now that he had had similar dreams before. It was during the school days after he cast the most powerful pulse spell he had ever cast to save three of his students who would have otherwise died. As time passed, the memory of what had happened before he reset time had faded, but he had had nightmares for weeks after it and woke in cold sweats in the middle of the night. He hadn’t been able to recall anything of his dreams except that in them the students had died.

And he hadn’t been able to use the pulse for a month after that. It was as if he had pushed its power too far.

“So are you going to tell me or are we both going to be men of mystery who never reveal their secrets?” Yuri said, lifting his face from his hands and watching Byleth nervously.

If he told Yuri, he could lose whatever shreds of trust he had left. If he didn’t, he most certainly would.

“I had a vision… of the future,” Byleth said. “I can explain, but I need time to figure out how to put it into words. It is a long story and you might not believe it. Please, ask me later and I will tell you everything.”

Yuri nodded. “I’m gonna hold you to that promise.”

“I will hold myself to it.”

* * *

  
  


At first, Yuri’s mind reeled with the volume of extraordinary information. Then it raced as he put all the pieces together and made sense of Byleth’s tentative, stammering sentences. And finally the manic processing of such a wild tale ran its course and Yuri rested for a moment in the soul-deep feeling of relief that flooded his body. 

Byleth had not betrayed his trust and Yuri could not even hold it against him for keeping the secret of Sothis’s power to himself all this while, for he would have done the exact same.

And more importantly still, Byleth was not going to look at Yuri with consternation or suspicion when he revealed his own truths. Was this the day? Yuri decided no, but that Byleth deserved one truth from him nonetheless.

“You don’t remember my real name consciously then?” he asked.

“No, I can’t. I’m sorry. It’s so important, I feel that I should remember it, but…”

Yuri put his hand on Byleth’s arm to stop him from talking. The toll of his long discussion had already left him looking pale and worn out and right now Yuri was more concerned with his health than his apologies.

“I’m glad you don’t. I wanted to see the look on your face when I told you for the first time,” he said with a smile.

“I look forward to it someday,” Byleth replied, smiling back faintly.

“I’ve selfishly kept you up long enough. You need to rest,” Yuri said, lying down on the edge of the bedroll and patting the ground next to him. Byleth lay down and Yuri gathered him into his arms, careful to avoid touching the freshly-healed wounds. 

“I love you,” Yuri whispered in his ear. “Even when I’m not sure if I should trust you, it doesn’t change how much I love you. Nothing can. It’s frightening in a way… the permanence of it. I’m not used to things being that certain, that… reliable. I know I will always love you, whether we are together or not. I’m glad you told me the truth and I can trust you again.”

“I thought you would trust me less knowing this,” Byleth murmured.

“Maybe some people would. But I’ve heard stranger things, believe it or not. And you’re going to hear very strange and hard to believe truths too when I tell you my story. For now you must sleep and recover, though.”

“I’ll find a way to protect you,” he said, resting his head on Yuri’s shoulder and softly kissing his neck. “I can’t lose you. You are…”

Yuri waited several long moments for Byleth to find the words to finish that thought and when he did, he had to restrain the urge to cling to Byleth tightly and kiss him breathless.

“You’re the most precious thing in the world to me.”

“Then I’ll make sure I keep an eye out for assassins,” Yuri replied, covering up the emotion that choked him with a light, breathy laugh. “I won’t stand for your heart being broken over something so silly as me not watching my own back.”

Byleth continued to nuzzle his neck, planting tender, tired kisses across his skin. And Yuri combed his fingers through his soft, green hair and enjoyed the feeling of restored intimacy that quietly enveloped the moment. 

“I didn’t know I could love someone this much,” Byleth murmured as he stopped kissing and lay his head down on his pillow to sleep. “I didn’t think it was possible for me to feel anything this strongly.”


	5. A Debt to Pay

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Day 6 prompt: Dancing/Goddess Tower
> 
> At the victory celebration held after the reclamation of Fhirdiad, Byleth dances with Yuri and Yuri admits a part of his most closely-held secret.

##  5 – A Debt to Pay

###  Harpstring Moon, 1186

“They’re still clearing the rubble out of the streets and burying the bodies and we are here  _ dancing _ ,” Felix scoffed.

“Isn’t your role in this army to dance?” Yuri asked with a smirk.

Felix looked at him in annoyance. “My role is to fight. Dancing is just a way to enhance the speed and footwork of swordplay and-”

“Cool it, Fee,” Sylvain said, appearing beside them with a tray of wine glasses. “Have a drink and accept the fact that a good victory celebration is essential for morale. We took back Fhirdiad today. Let the people dance.”

“I can’t believe you talked Dimitri into this,” he muttered.

“Actually, I did,” Byleth spoke up. He took one of the wine glasses and tossed the whole thing back like a shot of vodka then reached for another.

Yuri watched him in horror. “You’re supposed to savor it!”

“Not this swill,” Sylvain said, handing him a glass.

Yuri sipped it tentatively and grimaced. “Alright, shots it is.” He gulped it down as quickly as possible and chased it with a bite of a strawberry to rid the acerbic taste from his mouth. What he would give for good Adrestrian wine right now… 

“It’s better at least than that watered down champagne they gave us at the ball when we were students,” Sylvain.

“You still got drunk off it,” Byleth told him. “I had to carry you back to the dorms. Don’t you remember? Mercedes found you passed out on the floor of the Goddess Tower.”

Sylvain laughed nervously. “Not my proudest moment. Thanks for reminding me.”

“And what were you doing with Mercedes at the Goddess Tower that night?” Yuri asked Byleth, raising his eyebrows playfully. 

“Clearing up a misconception,” he replied.

“Reminiscing about those days is pointless. It was ages ago,” Felix cut in. He snatched the drink out of Sylvain’s hand and set it emphatically down on a nearby table. 

“I was drinking that!” Sylvain protested.

“Tough,” Felix said.

“Come on, can’t a guy have a little fun? It’s-” Sylvain began but stopped abruptly when Felix grabbed him by the arm and dragged him onto the dance floor, much to Sylvain’s astonishment and no one else’s.

“Ah, young love. I remember those days,” Yuri said, watching the two of them dance.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Byleth flash him a concerned look.

Yuri smiled slightly. “Now we are old and our love has grown mature and sedate like a-”

Byleth took his hand and pulled him into his arms, kissing him passionately, completely heedless of the people watching. He led Yuri to the dance floor and joined in with the circling patterns of the couples waltzing.

Faerghus dances were a little too stiff and tame for Yuri’s tastes. He preferred the fast-paced, exhilarating Almyran dances Claude taught him during their academy days. And yet, he found himself happier in this moment with Byleth’s hand on his back, barely brushing his jacket, their feet moving in slow measured steps, than he had spinning wildly with Claude. The waltz was far inferior compared to the amount of physical contact and freedom of movement Claude’s dance had involved, but it provoked a stronger, more enchanting sense of closeness somehow.

Even after all these months, it was still perplexing to Yuri how his connection with Byleth made the smallest things seem captivating and intimate. A brush of Byleth’s fingers across his cheek or a tired, slow kiss before bed held more depth than the most passionate romantic gestures he had experienced before Byleth. It didn’t make sense to him how different being loved by him was, but the mystery of it captivated him, kept him hungry for more and determined to venture continually deeper into the uncharted waters of a relationship like this.

Byleth spoke freely of his feelings for Yuri, but less often did he put into words how Yuri made him feel. And yet the way he craved even the most innocent touch from Yuri and the way he looked at him in moments like this, eyes widened slightly in amazement as if he still could not believe something so cherished and precious was his to hold, led Yuri to believe that Byleth definitely felt the same.

“What are you thinking about?” Byleth asked, pulling Yuri closer so he could hear him over the noise in the room.

“You.”

“What about me?”

“You’re so handsome,” Yuri said. “Poor Mercedes, getting her hopes dashed at the Goddess Tower all those years ago…”

Byleth flushed slightly and glanced away. “I’m not handsome. And if I ever was I’m not anymore.”

Yuri reached up to gently trace the thick scar across Byleth’s forehead and cheek that was a painful reminder of the wounds he suffered at Gronder Field. “You are to me,” he murmured. 

The dance ended too soon and before another could start, Yuri took Byleth’s hand and led him out of the palace ballroom towards a balcony that was sheltered behind a thick curtain. He drew it closed behind them and walked over to lean on the railing and look out over the city lights.

“It has been a long month,” he said.

Byleth didn’t reply; he just walked over to stand beside him, his shoulder leaning against Yuri’s.

“I promised to tell you my secrets in return for you confessing yours that night after Gronder. But since then you and I have hardly had a spare moment to breathe, let alone talk in private. Even now, I would not consider this private. But I want to seize this chance all the same before we march to Enbarr. I cannot tell you everything in a place like this where it is not out of the question that someone could overhear, but I can tell you one thing that you want to know,” Yuri said.

“You don’t have to tell me anything until you are ready,” Byleth replied.

“I know, but that makes me want to tell you even more.” Yuri turned to face him and said, “I know you have been investigating in any spare moment you have who might want me dead. With my crest and my speed and my relic, it is highly unlikely I would die in battle. With the amount of enemies I have made over the years, assassination is far more likely a way for me to go. But, judging by how you still toss and turn with nightmares most nights, I am guessing your search has come up empty.”

Byleth lowered his eyes to stare at the floor and gave a curt nod of shame.

“No, don’t,” Yuri said, stepping closer and cupping Byleth’s cheek in his hand. “Don’t look so defeated and ashamed. You have been fighting a war! How could you have time and resources for such a thing when you have no information to even base your investigation on? Do not for one moment blame yourself.”

“I don’t get another try, Yuri,” he whispered, his voice thick with constrained emotion. “This is it. If I fail…”

“This time we’re in this together. You won’t fail.”

Byleth placed his hand over Yuri’s and raised his eyes to meet his gaze. He didn’t speak, but as usual Yuri did not need him to. He understood the emotions written in Byleth’s worried eyes and furrowed brow. 

“I have been doing a little investigation of my own,” Yuri said, withdrawing his hand and wrapping his arm around Byleth’s waist instead. “As of yet, I have no leads either, but unlike you, I know where to look. The problem is that the people highest on my list of threats are very, very hard to find. Their entire existence depends on their secrecy.”

“A rival gang?” Byleth asked.

“You could say that. To be honest, I know little about who and what they are or the extent of their numbers and organization. But I know that there are those who, like the four apostles of old, experiment with blood in their magic and put high value on people with powerful crests.”

“Someone is after your crest like Aelfric was?”

“Yes, albeit for far larger and less personal reasons,” Yuri explained. “All I know is that right before I left home as a boy, my mother told me to change my name and never reveal my identity. She said that there were people who would not hesitate to take my life to get their hands on my blood and to steal my abilities and keep them to themselves before anyone else discovered them. She said that my blood carried something that no one else in Fódlan had.”

“What?”

Yuri cast a quick glance around to reassure himself that they were still alone. He tugged Byleth a little closer and lowered his voice. “Let’s just say that you are not the only one lacking some of the fundamental things that make a person human.”

Byleth gave him a questioning look but Yuri put a finger to his lips and added, “I will tell you the full story when I can do so with perfect assurance of our privacy. But for now, I want you to know that it isn’t a petty crook with a vendetta against me or an imperial soldier whose brother I killed on the battlefield that I’m wagering is the one who kills me. It’d take a stronger force than a mere human to do so, I think. Our best bet is that it is one of these blood witches. I am gathering all the information on them that I can. I will tell you when I have learnt something.”

Byleth nodded, looking stunned by the information. “Not quite human,” he said and it was a statement more than a question.

Yuri winced. This was the reaction he had feared. It was not an easy thing to tell someone: that he was different, cursed and blessed at the same time, turned into something unfathomable and  _ other _ .

Byleth looked into his eyes and a hint of relief passed across his expression. “Like me?”

Yuri’s heart leapt. “Yes, to some extent. I lack your godlike powers, of course, but like you, there are things about me that are… broken.”

To his surprise, Byleth threw his arms around him and buried his face in Yuri’s neck. “I thought I was the only one,” he murmured. “I thought no one would ever-” He pulled back suddenly and placed his palm over Yuri’s heart.

With a chuckle, Yuri said, “No, mine still has a heartbeat. I’m sorry.”

“I thought so but I wondered if maybe it was a trick or…” he trailed off and moved his hand away. “I will find these people who want your blood. They will never get their hands on you.”

Yuri smiled up at him. “I know. I won’t let them either. I have a dream to accomplish, after all.”

But his words, even though spoken to reassure Byleth, made his heart ache. He hid the feeling carefully, but his mind remained distracted.

_ Won’t _ was not the way the cursed blessing had been phrased, after all. The exact word was  _ can’t. _ Yuri could die; a blade between the ribs would kill him the same as anyone else. He did not have Byleth’s supernatural ability to come back from death. No, it was not that he physically couldn’t fail in his goals, it was that he would be spiting the gift of his own life that Aubin had sacrificed everything to give him if he died before achieving Aubin’s dream. He  _ couldn’t _ fail because that would leave the greatest debt he had unpaid. And Yuri always paid his debts.

Byleth took his face in his hands and kissed him deeply, drawing Yuri out of his thought. Wrapping his arms around Byleth’s neck, he allowed himself to focus only on the moment and the incredible joy of being loved so deeply and accepted so unequivocally.

Love like this was another gift he did not deserve and another debt he intended to repay by loving Byleth in return with everything that he was capable of.

“Would you like to dance some more?” Byleth asked him.

“Only if you let me lead this time,” Yuri replied, holding out his hand with a wink.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am still salty that Byleth doesn't get to meet Yuri at the Goddess Tower during the White Heron Ball. On my first playthrough with the Ashen Wolves, I was so sure he'd be there and it ended up being Mercedes. I felt so bad for her.... like "Girl, I adore you but my heart belongs to someone else this playthrough" :'(  
> Was anyone else heartbroken that you couldn't meet Yuri in that scene? I wonder what he would have said!


	6. Light Bringer

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Day 7 prompt: Tea Time
> 
> As Byleth & Yuri sit down to tea on the fateful day that Yuri originally died, Yuri reflects on what happened in Enbarr and wonders if the secret he exposed that day is safe or if more danger lies ahead for him.  
> Interspersed throughout the chapter are flashbacks of his showdown in the throne room with Edelgard and his encounter with Those Who Slither in the Dark.
> 
> (This is a day late and I won't be able to post today's prompt till tomorrow so I guess I'll be finishing Yurileth Week late too, sadly. But better late than never! This story got a bit bigger than I intended, as it ended up being about Yuri's backstory a lot. But the last chapter will wrap all that mystery up and set our two heroes up for the future happily!)

##  6 – Light Bringer

###  Horsebow Moon, 1186

The terrace outside their chamber in the Fhirdiad palace was a microcosm of Faerghus summer, filled with flowers and vines snaking across white marble statues and illuminated by soft pale sunlight filtering in through the clouds. It was all muted pastels and cool, quiet stillness.

Yuri walked over to the table and set down the teapot and a plate of his favorite cinnamon-sugar biscuits.

“Wait! They just came out of the oven!” he said as Byleth fished one off of the plate eagerly and took a bite despite the fact it was still baking hot. He winced a bit as it burned his tongue and Yuri sighed. “So impatient.”

“Worth it,” Byleth said, chasing the biscuit with a sip of equally scalding tea. “They’re delicious.”

Yuri gave a distracted laugh and picked up his cup, blowing on the steaming tea absentmindedly as his gaze wandered away into the distance. He knew he should say something amusing but the orderliness and tranquility of the terrace garden was having an unsettling effect on him. He felt like a figure in an impressionistic painting, vaguely out of focus and blending into the surreal background.

The pristine world around him was the opposite of Enbarr in every way, and even after a week here it still did not feel real.

_ Enbarr was unrecognizable from the city Yuri had once known, the city of art and music and culture, the heart of the oldest dynasty in Fódlan. Enbarr this time of year should have been overflowing with every kind of bright and beautiful thing. _

_ But this Enbarr was in flames, stained with blood-soaked dirt spread by the stomping armored boots of thousands of soldiers, littered with bodies and rubble. It was a cacophony of manic stimuli too overwhelming to feel real. _

_ “Yuri-bird!” Hapi cried, galloping towards him. She held out her hand as her horse skidded to a stop beside him and Yuri grabbed it, swinging up into the saddle behind her. “Throne room! We need you!” she explained, shouting to be heard over the chaos. _

_ “By said to hold the courtyard!” he protested. _

_ “Byleth’s in trouble! We’ve lost too many! It’s just him and Didi up against Edelgard!” _

_ “What happened to Sylvain and Ingrid?” _

_ “They were almost killed! Felix and Dedue are dragging them out before they bleed to death! Byleth told me to bring backup and you’re the closest one! The others are on the other side of the city!” _

_ Yuri hung on tight to Hapi as she guided her warhorse through the pandemonium inside the palace towards the doors of the throne room. _

_ “Did she have reinforcements?” he questioned. “It should have just been her and her personal guard!” _

_ “We killed the guard. It’s just her!” _

_ “Can’t By and Dimitri handle-?” _

_ “Shut up and look!” Hapi interrupted, thrusting her hand out to send a pulse of wind that blasted open the doors to the throne room.  _

_ The sight that met Yuri’s eyes staggered him and it took a moment for even his quick mind to fully comprehend what was going on. Because Edelgard wasn’t in the room. A demonic beast wearing the emperor’s crown was. _

_ “Hapi, fall back! Yuri, to me!” Byleth yelled as he caught sight of them. _

_ Yuri leapt free of the saddle and raced to Byleth’s side, less than fifteen feet from the demonic beast. It’s attention was turned on Dimitri, who was fending it off with strong, purposeful strikes, Areadbhar’s vicious plow-like head already bathed in blood. In the moment Yuri saw him before Dimitri dodged out of sight, he knew that the expression of anguish on the king’s face was not one he would ever forget. _

_ “I’ll help Dimitri!” Byleth said, grabbing Yuri’s arm and leaning in to gasp the words in his ear. “You attack from behind! Aim for the weak spot on her lower right-hand side! See it there? Use this! Don’t get too close!” _

_ Before Yuri could protest Byleth throwing himself in front of the monster, a Levin sword was shoved into his hand and Byleth was bolting away. Staring up at the beast alone, Yuri gripped the Levin sword and felt the familiar painful sparks of its magic crackling down the blade to the hilt. _

_ The towering armored beast, seething with the unnatural energy of blood magic, roared and Yuri’s blood ran cold. _

At that moment there had been no time for reflection, only survival. Now with time to think, Yuri wondered, just as he had after Aelfric, if someday he would end up a monster. He too was a product of blood magic and so was Byleth. They were both aberrations, formed from the avarice of mages who tried to twist the power of the goddess and the innate laws of magic for their own aims.

Aelfric had committed his crimes for what he called love. Edelgard for what she truly believed to be the long-term good of humanity. 

Who was to say that someday, in the end, Yuri wouldn’t have to pay for the cost of Aubin’s dream and Byleth for Rhea’s? No matter how good their motivations, the fact remained that Rhea had robbed a helpless baby of its own heart and any chance for a normal life. And Aubin had taken a poor, sick boy and set the weight of the world atop his shoulders, telling him that the crushing burden was a gift, that he should be grateful, that he could not allow himself to fail, that he would live on frozen in time until he had fulfilled his end of the deal, even though it was a deal Yuri did not remember ever agreeing to.

“Yuri.”

He looked up from his tea at Byleth with a vague smile. “Yes?”

“I keep thinking about whether you are out of danger yet or not. I’m not about to let down my guard, even though the war is over. But I have things that I want to do and I think maybe… maybe finally I can.”

“What is it you want to do, friend?” he asked.

“I…” Byleth’s eyes went wide with panic. “Oh shit. I didn’t mean to… Well, now really isn’t the moment to talk about it. I thought maybe we could…”

Yuri smiled at his flustered expression. “So you want to bring up mysterious plans, tell me nothing of them and expect me to not attempt to pry or trick the information out of you? Adorable.”

Byleth laughed, a pure sound that started to chase away some of the dread hanging over Yuri. But then his expression fell and his next words pulled right back at the memories that Yuri was trying not to drown in, with little avail.

“I just have to be sure. I can’t look too far ahead when at any moment I could still slip up and… and fuck up everything. I have to be certain that what we did in Enbarr means you’re safe now,” he said. “I’m just not sure how to know for sure.”

“Myson is dead,” Yuri said. “I made sure of that.”

_ The monster screamed as the Levin sword’s bolt struck true and deep between the cracks in its armor. Seizing the moment, Yuri leapt forward and buried the sword to the hilt in the exposed wound.  _

_ The lethal blow would have killed any human and would have at least staggered a demonic beast. But Yuri had underestimated the power of the blood magic burning inside the haunted husk of Edelgard’s twisted form.  _

_ With terrifying speed, the monster whipped around and seized the blade, ripping it out of its own body and casting it aside. Its glowing eyes settled on Yuri and he heard Byleth and Dimitri both yell his name, but it felt like their voices came from far away. Yuri was transfixed by the stare of the monster. He barely processed the rising of its arm and the way its long skeletal claws extended to strike. _

_ Yuri was normally always in control, and even if a situation got out of hand, he was at least in control of himself. But he was taken aback at watching history repeat itself. For Edelgard – the thing that once was Edelgard – was looking at him with the same blind, undiscerning rage that the Aelfric’s demonic form had looked at him with.  _

_ The instant was not long enough for conscious thought, but within it Yuri had a feeling that he later understood to be an overwhelming combination of empathy and dread. That feeling paralyzed him and it was not until those razor-sharp claws were inches away from him that he reacted. But it was far too late for control. The only hope he had now was the gut instinct to survive. Drawing his silver sword with one hand, Yuri threw his other hand out and felt the pulse-pounding, blood-rushing power of his crest surge out. With a brilliant flash of light, the sign of Aubin burst to life in the air, drawing a howl of fear and rage from the monster. _

_ Yuri’s body acted of its own accord as he dashed out of the way and brought his sword up into a defensive position, ready to keep fighting now that his moment of vulnerability had passed and the attack that would have claimed his life had been repulsed. _

_ For one moment, his heart raced with relief, then fear spiked through him as he realized his mistake. He had just exposed the crest of Aubin to a place crawling with the blood witches. If one of them had seen… If the dark mages who experimented on Edelgard and transformed her into this beast were the same ones who wanted his blood…  _

_ “No hesitation!” Byleth roared and lashed out at the monster with the Sword of the Creator while it was distracted by Yuri. _

_ Yuri must have weakened it with the Levin sword, because when Byleth’s blade bit into its body, the monster spasmed and collapsed with a wail. The air was filled with the hissing energy of dark magic as invisible claws flayed away every scrap of armor on the beast, leaving behind the limp, blood-stained body of the emperor. _

_ “Edelgard,” Dimitri said in a ragged voice, walking over to stand before her. “It is over.” _

_ Yuri tore his eyes away from the heartbreaking sight and scanned their perimeter warily. A glimpse of movement in the corner of his eye caught his attention and he ran towards it. As he drew closer, he saw a mage in strange attire struggling amidst a heap of bodies on the ground. The man’s body shimmered as if with a warp spell, but the strength of his magic gave out before the spell could finish and the mage’s body re-materialized, still trapped beneath the corpse of a fallen wyvern. _

_ The mage looked up and caught sight of him but before he could react, Yuri was on top of him, wrestling his hands behind his back and binding them with a belt. _

_ “You’re one of them,” Yuri said. “You did this to Edelgard!” _

_ “What does it matter? She was already a beast. You are all wretched, damned beasts,” he spat. _

_ “How many of you are there? What did you want with her?” _

_ The man laughed hoarsely and spat out a mouthful of blood. “Wait and see, Light Bringer. They’ll be coming for you next.” _

_ Yuri’s heart dropped. “What did you say?” _

_ “You heard me.” _

_ Before Yuri could reply, the mage gritted his teeth and attempted to cast the warp spell again. The second the magic rippled in the air, red chains flared to life around his chest, dispelling his magic and holding him in place. _

_ Yuri looked over his shoulder to see Byleth running over, his palm still glowing with magic from the silence spell.  _

_ “Are you hurt?” he asked Yuri. _

_ “No. Do you know who this man is?” _

_ Byleth came to stand beside Yuri and stared down at the mage, his eyes narrowing in anger. “His name is Myson. He commanded the blood mages who Edelgard was working with.” _

_ “Myson, huh?” Yuri said, nudging the man’s chest with the tip of his boot while the man glared mockingly up at him. “How about you tell me what I want to know, Myson? How many more of you are there and what are you after?” _

_ “There are many more of us and we are after things your pathetic minds can’t comprehend,” he growled. “Go ahead and take me prisoner, try to make me talk. Those are the only words you will get from me.” _

_ Yuri glanced at Byleth and noticed that his hand was shaking from the effort of holding the silence spell. _

_ “The moment you let that spell go, he will warp out of here,” Yuri warned him. _

_ Byleth nodded tensely.  _

_ Crouching down in front of Myson, Yuri looked him in the eye and said, “Why did you call me by that title?” _

_ Myson laughed. _

_ “Answer me!” Yuri said, drawing a knife and holding it to the man’s throat.  _

_ “We’ve been looking for you for years,” Myson said. “The Adrestrian girl couldn’t hold the Crest of Flames inside her without it tearing her apart. But you… you seem to have adapted to your power well. Much better than she did. How fascinating.” _

_ “Knock him unconscious before the spell breaks,” Byleth ordered. “We will question him along with the other prisoners.” _

_ But Yuri’s heart was pounding so hard he barely heard Byleth’s words. _

_ This was how it happened, wasn’t it? His secret was exposed, the enemies who had plagued Aubin for centuries and now sought to settle the score with Yuri had discovered him at last. This was the beginning of the sequence of events that led to his death. _

_ Yuri had learned over the years that the best way to win a dangerous game was to stay one step ahead. If somehow Myson were to escape and the other blood witches in his cult were to learn of what he saw today, Yuri would be forced to make reactionary moves. He would be struggling to catch up to his opponent and try to stop them all while operating at a disadvantage, because they would know where to find him and he as of yet still had no idea of where to find them. _

_ The problem with staying one step ahead is that sometimes it meant that he had to act swiftly and without hesitation because a single moment could be his only chance to secure an advantage. Caution sometimes took the form of ruthlessness and Yuri was not called the Savage Mockingbird for nothing. _

_ “Yuri!” Byleth said urgently. “I can only hold the spell a-” _

_ In one quick, decisive moment Yuri raised the knife and slashed the blade across Myson’s throat. _

“If your secret died with him, you should be safe now,” Byleth said, drawing Yuri back to the present once again. 

He glanced around the terrace garden to reorient himself then turned back to Byleth. The sight of Myson’s body faded from his mind’s eye and Yuri swiftly put a well-practiced smile on his face to hide his dark thoughts. 

With a flippant laugh, he said, “With as many enemies as I have, I’m never as safe as you’d probably like me to be.”

“Rival gangs and offended nobles don’t concern me,” Byleth said.

“Then you don’t need to worry about me anymore,” Yuri replied.

Byleth didn’t immediately reply and Yuri’s smile faded. He forced his mind not to return to his memories of Enbarr, but he still struggled to cover up his mood with clever conversation. 

After a few minutes, Byleth set down his teacup and reached across the table to touch Yuri’s hand. “What’s wrong? You’re so quiet.”

“Quiet?” Yuri shook his head. “No, I was just waiting for you to speak. You seem lost in thought too today.”

“Sorry.”

“Don’t be sorry. I like a man who thinks every once in a while.”

“I thought you just liked me for my pretty face,” Byleth replied shyly. 

Yuri laughed and gave him a crooked smile. “I like you for many reasons, not just your face.”

The flirtatious comment had slipped out of him purely out of habit, but Yuri saw the way Byleth’s eyes lit up. 

Even though his heart was heavy and his mind was distracted with anxious thoughts, Yuri knew he had to force himself to stay here in the moment and not waste this precious time he had alone with Byleth. And he knew that if he gave himself something to focus on, he would be able to shrug off his dark mood and be the charming, lighthearted person he far preferred to be.

So he arched an eyebrow and reached under the table, sliding his hand up Byleth’s leg and stroking his thigh. He was rewarded with the sight of Byleth’s blush deepening and the way he looked nervously around the terrace was so adorable it evoked a genuine smile from Yuri, replacing the small, wry one that was his normal mask.

“We’re alone,” Yuri said. “Just you and me, here in a beautiful garden, young, dumb and in love… There is nothing stopping me from getting down on my knees under this table and-”

Byleth interrupted him with a gasp and a shudder and Yuri realized instantly it wasn’t from arousal. It was panic.

Jumping to his feet and knocking over his chair, Byleth drew his sword and leapt in front of Yuri to guard him from an invisible foe.

“Get down!” he cried. 

Drawing his own sword, Yuri scanned their surroundings, heart pounding. “What is it?” he asked.

“It was here,” Byleth said frantically. “Right here. Right now. As soon as you said that, I-”

He jumped at a noise and raised his sword, but it was only a bird alighting from the balcony and flapping its wings.

“Let’s get inside,” Yuri said, putting his hand on Byleth’s arm and pulling him towards the door. 

Blades drawn, they raced inside. The servants watched them with startled expressions as they made their way through the palace with the caution and intensity of soldiers infiltrating an enemy stronghold.

“Call for guards!” Byleth ordered someone. “Have knights stationed outside the door to my quarters along with a monk who can use faith magic! Hurry!”

When they were finally locked away inside Byleth’s chamber, Yuri forced his panic to ease and his head to clear. “What do we do?” he asked.

Byleth gripped his sword tightly in both hands and looked around the room like a general surveying a battlefield. “We wait,” he answered.

“When this is over, I want you to tell me what that plan was,” Yuri said.

“Plan?”

“You mentioned there was something you wanted to do, that you had been planning. Tell me when this is over, okay?”

Byleth’s expression remained blank and vigilant, but his voice was thick with emotion as he answered, “I will.”


	7. A Life Beyond Dreams

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Day 8 prompt: Future
> 
> Just as Byleth begins to hope Yuri is safe, the two of them are thrown into danger again. But the experience leaves Byleth with the realization that he can't keep waiting for a day when there is perfect peace and safety. He has to pursue a life with Yuri now, no matter what daunting things lie in store for them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A day late, but here is the conclusion to my way-longer-than-planned Yurileth Week story!

## 7 – A Life Beyond Dreams

###  **Red Wolf Moon, 1186**

  
  


Byleth treasured his mornings. He would rise at dawn every day so that he could have those precious few hours with Yuri before their overwhelming workloads pulled them in separate directions until late into the evening when they would collapse in bed too exhausted to do more than murmur a sleepy goodnight. 

This morning, Byleth awoke a little earlier than usual and slipped out of bed to procure breakfast and coffee. Carefully, he added the amounts of cream and sugar Yuri liked (enough to make it an almost unrecognizable drink) and returned to their chamber, where he gently shook Yuri awake.

“Mmmm,” Yuri groaned, rolling onto his stomach and burying his face in the pillow. “Not yet.”

“It’s half past six,” Byleth said.

“I am a creature of the night,” he grumbled. “Fuck mornings.”

Ignoring the string of muttered curse words that followed this sentiment, Byleth sat down on the edge of the bed and sipped his coffee, waiting patiently for Yuri to go through his waking routine: five minutes of complaining and refusing to get out of bed; ten minutes of washing his face, styling his hair and putting on makeup; then five minutes of taking Byleth’s empty coffee cup out of his hand, straddling him and kissing him until Yuri suddenly remembered his own coffee and exclaimed, “Shit, now it’s lukewarm! Oh well. It’s disgusting anyways.” Then he promptly downed the whole cup in one gulp, winced and went back to kissing Byleth.

Holding him close, Byleth savored the taste of the sugary sweet coffee on Yuri’s lips and tongue and lost himself in the incredible feeling of Yuri’s body in his arms, his bare skin warm under Byleth’s hands and shivering with excitement at his touch.

“How did you sleep?” Yuri asked after they got out of bed a while later, sweaty, satisfied and very much awake now.

“Well. You?”

“Still no nightmares?” Yuri asked.

Byleth shook his head. “Not since that day we had tea on the terrace.”

Yuri exhaled a sigh of relief. “Maybe at this point we can assume you did it and managed to change things.”

“It seems too good to be true.”

“A lot of things seem too good to be true,” Yuri replied. Picking up Byleth’s hand, he kissed his fingers and added, “I’m learning to get used to being way luckier than I deserve.”

Byleth smiled – one of those big, dopey smiles he was sure made him look like an idiot. But he was too happy to help it. 

Yuri smiled back and said, “Stop looking so adorable. I’m hungry and want to have breakfast, not climb back into bed with you. But if you keep looking at me like that, I’m not going to have much of a choice.”

“Sorry,” Byleth said, sobering up a bit and taking a sip of his second cup of coffee.

With a fond look of both amusement and concern, Yuri said, “Don’t apologize! Good goddess, By. I was teasing you!”

“Breakfast is important!” he asserted. “You need to eat to keep up your strength. You’ve been working so hard lately. If you don’t-”

But Yuri interrupted him with a kiss and said, “Don’t worry. I’ll take care of myself.”

The rest of their morning passed too quickly and when they reluctantly parted ways to go about their business, Byleth couldn’t shake the heavy feeling hanging over him that he was missing something. It cast a shadow over his day, making him distracted in his meetings until late afternoon when Felix burst into his office, sword drawn.

“What is it?” Byleth asked without looking up from his paperwork. This was not exactly an uncommon occurrence after all.

“Yuri’s gone! Get your ass up! We have to find him!”

“Gone?” Byleth leapt to his feet and grabbed his sword, following Felix as he bolted out into the hallway. “What do you mean?”

“Abducted! Keep up!” Felix shouted, outpacing Byleth. He swore and said, “Hapi and I were having lunch with him and someone walked into his office to request a word with him. As soon as they stepped outside, a warp spell went off and they vanished! But they couldn’t have gotten far with a warp. Hapi took a pegasus and is circling the city walls to see if she can see them fleeing on horseback or something. I alerted the guards and came to find you.” Felix swore again and said, “Hustle your long legs, Byleth! Damn! Hurry!”

His mind racing to process the news and form a strategy, Byleth followed Felix to the stables where Felix grabbed the reins of a wyvern and shouted, “Get on!”

“What are we doing?” he asked, climbing up into the saddle behind Felix.

Flicking the reins, Felix urged the wyvern to fly and the beast launched into the air, swiftly ascending into the skies towards the gates of Fhirdiad.

They caught sight of a pegasus after a few minutes and Felix yelled, “HAPI!”

The pegasus swooped over and Hapi called, “No sign of anyone!” Her normal nonchalant voice now distraught and slightly hysterical. “None of the guards have seen anyone appear from a warp spell and no horseman or fliers have been spotted on the roads outside the city!”

Felix swore. “Byleth, what do we do?”

“What time was it exactly that he was taken?” he asked.

“I don’t know! A quarter of an hour ago?”

Byleth closed his eyes to concentrate and Felix said, “What do we do?”

“Sshh!” Byleth hissed, turning his focus inwards and searching for traces of Sothis’s divine magic within him. 

But he was met only with emptiness.

“Sothis!” he whispered.

Silence.

  
  


“Well, this is inconvenient,” Yuri muttered, struggling a bit at the handcuffs to check how tight they were.

The man standing guard outside the cell they had thrown him in growled, “Silence!” without even looking at him.

Yuri laughed. “Oh boy, you do not know me well if you expect me to take this all quietly and meekly. What the fuck do you want with me and why am I here? Give me answers or I’ll slit your throat.”

“Pathetic animal. You think you can threaten us? You are in chains.”

“For now.”

“If you continue to prattle, I will come in there and gag you and bind you tighter.”

“Flirting now, are we? How scandalous. I thought you were supposed to be guarding with me, not propositioning me,” Yuri replied.

The man looked over his shoulder to glare murderously at him and Yuri’s confident smirk faltered for a second with dread. The man’s corpse-white skin and the strange black designs tattooed around his eyes were the same as Solon and Kronya.

So the enemies of Aubin had finally found him. Why was he even still alive? They needed two things from him: his blood and his death. He was a threat to them every moment he was still breathing. What could they gain from keeping him alive?

Yuri’s dread deepened as he searched through all his memories of the strange events revolving around Solon that had happened during his school days. It had not been him they had been after back then. It had been Byleth. They had nearly killed him that day. If not for Sothis’s last miracle, Byleth would have been lost in the darkness of Zahras for good.

Even if they did not know who Yuri was, they would still have reason to abduct him. He was their best leverage against Byleth.

  
  


“Archbishop Byleth, Duke Fraldarius!” a knight called the moment their wyvern touched down on the ground. He held out a note and as soon as Byleth opened it, he knew what had happened to Yuri.

_‘Come alone to the Tailtean Plains at dawn, Fell Star. If you refuse or you do not come alone, he will die slowly, in the dark, screaming.’_

“Ransom note?” Felix said.

Byleth summoned a flame to his hand and disintegrated the note before anyone could read it. He could not afford to have anyone try to intervene and go to the Tailtean Plains with him.

“Yes. I’m to meet them at dawn. But I have to go alone or they will kill him,” he answered.

Felix swore under his breath and said, “You can’t go on your own. Whoever this is, they want you dead. It’s obviously a trap.”

“I know,” Byleth said. “But if you or anyone else tries to follow me, I will have you arrested and dragged back to Fhirdiad. I’m not risking his life for anything.” 

Felix did not reply and Byleth turned around to stare at him intently. “Do you understand me?” Byleth said. “Stay here and make sure Hapi doesn’t follow me either. That is an order.”

“The boar won’t let you go without backup,” he said, standing his ground stubbornly.

“Dimitri need not know of my plans.”

“What is he supposed to do if you go walk off to your death? Find a new archbishop?” Felix scoffed. “Good luck with that.”

Byleth’s patience snapped. “What do you want me to do? Leave them to torture and kill Yuri? I thought he was your friend!”

Felix stared back at him furiously and said in a low, cold voice, “Don’t you dare say that to me. Of course he’s my friend. And if you think for one moment I’m suggesting you cut him loose to die, you can go fuck yourself. What I’m saying is that you need to have a plan. You need to be smart about this. Isn’t that your job? To be the clever one? To get everyone out alive? Well, do your job. Use your head.”

“Sometimes even I don’t know what to do,” Byleth said. His mind was still reeling with shock at the absence of the divine pulse. He had counted on it being restored by now. That he would be without the power here at such a crucial moment terrified him. 

“Sometimes even I’m only human,” he added bitterly.

  
  


Yuri shivered as a frigid dawn spread across the Tailtean Plains. The frozen ground bruised his knees and the snow coating had soaked through the legs of his trousers long ago, chilling him to the bone. The guard had made good on his threat to gag him and now Yuri was regretting his smartass remarks because it was growing harder and harder to breathe through the thick rag stuffed between his teeth.

The demon leader’s breath caught in a sharp hiss as a figure appearing walking out across the snowy plain towards them.

“He’s here,” the demon said. 

Byleth approached them unhesitatingly, leaving his sword sheathed. He stopped a few yards away and stared straight at the demon leader with a grim, impassive expression. His eyes strayed briefly across Yuri but no feeling was betrayed in them. Rather than frighten Yuri, Byleth’s absence of emotion reassured him. This was the Ashen Demon, cool, calm and in control. The one everyone in Fódlan feared. These dark mages were about to sorely regret their decision to threaten him.

“What do you want?” Byleth asked bluntly.

“Does it matter? You will give anything for this boy, won’t you?” the demon taunted.

But Byleth just repeated, “What do you want?”

“The crest stone of the Sword of the Creator.”

“I don’t have it,” Byleth answered.

The demon laughed. “Either you are lying or Seiros has kept you in the dark all this time. It does not matter. It is not something you can hand over to me. It is something I must pry from your cold, dead body.”

The demon motioned towards the mage in the beaked mask standing beside him and Yuri knew that his moment to intervene had finally come. Slipping out of the cuffs that he had undone long ago, he leapt to his feet and lunged at the demon. But the instant before he could reach him, the demon vanished and reappeared fifty feet away. 

Byleth drew his sword and ran towards the guard but the masked mage ignited a spell rune in the air and a tremble shuddered through the earth beneath their feet. Between them and Byleth materialized a massive, armored beast. 

It was a Titanus, like the ones they had fought in the reclamation of Fhirdiad. Except in that battle, it had taken six of them to defeat it.

Yuri regained his balance from the tremor and threw himself at the masked mage, who was distracted from finishing up the summoning spell. Although not one for unarmed combat, Yuri had picked up a few things over the years from fistfights with Balthus and he brought his fist crashing down against the mage’s sternum, dazing him for a moment. 

As he felt one of his knuckles fracture, Yuri cursed his imperfect form but kept going without missing a breath. He knew his magic energy was low from the physical strain of having taken quite the beating from his kidnappers, made worse by a sleepless night without food or water. His magic would not hold out long, so he had to save it for the Titanus.

Grabbing the mage’s arm, he danced around him, twisting it to be pinned behind his back. He kicked savagely at the man’s knees, forcing him to the ground. Then he wrapped his arm around the man’s neck and choked him, clinging on for dear life as the man thrashed against his grip and tried to throw him off. But the mage couldn’t fire a spell at him while he was tackling him from behind and he was no match for Yuri in physical strength. Soon his struggling turned to feeble, desperate twitches and then he went still entirely as he blacked out.

Yuri let go and the body collapsed to the ground. Snatching up his handcuffs, he fastened them around the mage’s wrists then turned back to the Titanus. Byleth was holding its attention, dodging its strikes and slicing at its armor with the Sword of the Creator, attempting to break through it enough to expose a weak spot.

The demon launched a bolting spell from far away at Byleth and as he leapt out of its path, he couldn’t dodge the incoming blow of the Titanus. He brought his sword up and blocked the strike, but the giant blade crashed against his with such force it knocked him back and his feet slipped on the half-melted snow.

Yuri’s heart pulled at him to run to Byleth’s side but as of yet, the Titanus had not turned its attention to him and he needed to seize this moment to think up a strategy. Byleth was not going to be able to break his way through the creature’s heavy shields alone and Yuri was unarmed. He could launch some spells at the Titanus, but it would take more than faith spells to bring this thing down and he was not trained in reason magic to the point where he could take on a creature such as this with it.

Recovering his balance, Byleth blocked the creature’s next swing better and even strike back, landing a hit that put a slight fracture in the shield. Yuri breathed a sigh of relief and focused harder on analyzing the situation.

What did he have? What was his advantage?

His advantage was that he was unarmed and the Titanus did not even register him as a threat. 

What was his enemy's weakness?

Yuri studied the wondrous, terrifying work of ancient technology and searched for any gaps in its armor. He could not see any from where he was so he skirted around the creature, careful to keep his distance and not give any signs of attacking. When he was able to see the face of the Titanus, he noticed that the slits in its helmet through which light faintly glowed. There was a core of magic powering the beast from within.

Whistling to catch Byleth’s attention, Yuri pointed back and forth between them to signal his plan and Byleth nodded. He did not miss a beat in attacking and defending against the Titanus and Yuri crept back behind the creature. 

The ground trembled with every stomp of its huge feet and Yuri had to analyze its movements for a second before finding the best angle of approach. Then he sprang into action. Racing towards the base of the creature, he leapt up and caught the lowest piece of its armor in his hands. Before the creature could react, Yuri pulled himself up and got a foothold, swiftly scaling the ridges of its armor.

The Titanus tried to twist its arm around to swipe its blade at Yuri but Byleth seized the opportunity to attack, forcing the creature to fight back and ignore Yuri.

Continuing his perilous climb up the heaving creature, Yuri prayed to the goddess that this mad idea would work and he wouldn’t end up being thrown from the top of the creature and crushed beneath its feet. The studded metal armor tore at his raw, snow-slicked hands, but Yuri kept going, pulling himself up onto the Titanus’s shoulders. His boots slipped for a moment and he dived forward, grabbing onto the Titanus’s head to keep from falling to his death.

The creature thrashed, bucking and stomping its feet, trying to throw Yuri off of it and Yuri hung on with all the strength he had. Stoking his magic to life, he prepared to fire all he had into one strong lightning spell.

“Now!” he shouted and planted his palms on the creature’s shoulders, firing lightning straight into its body from both hands.

The spell was not enough to break its armor or to reach inside and touch at its core, but it did stun it for one brief instant. As soon as the lightning left Yuri’s hands, he raised his hand, took a deep breath, and snapped his fingers.

It was the spell no one ever expected, the perfect card to have up a trickster’s sleeve.

In a blink, he found himself down on the ground in front of the Titanus, standing unarmed and defenseless before its massive arms and lethal blade. But in the same second, Byleth materialized atop the creature’s shoulders. 

The Titanus recovered from the spasms of lightning quicker than Yuri had expected and immediately swung at Yuri. He leapt out of the way, watching as Byleth struggled to stand on the reeling shoulders of the beast.

In the corner of his eye, he saw a flicker of light and as he looked over his shoulder, he saw the demon leader warp a few feet away from him. The demon traced a spell rune in the air then thrust his hand towards Yuri, palm outstretched. A writhing pool of dark magic rose up beneath him, the ground churning and bubbling with dark violet clouds. 

Spikes shot upwards and Yuri tried to leap free of the spell, but one of them caught his leg, piercing through his flesh straight to the bone. With a scream, he fell to his hands and knees, gasping as his vision blurred with pain.

He turned his gaze up at the Titanus and saw Byleth grab hold of its head and reach around with his sword hand to strike its face. With a yell, he brought the Sword of the Creator slicing around and buried it to the hilt in the creature’s eye sockets. A pulse of light and fire exploded outwards from the Titanus, tearing its body apart and throwing Byleth off of it. 

The blast knocked the demon back and as it stumbled to its feet, it stared at Byleth with shock and terror. Yuri reached his hand up to fire a spell, but before he could, the demon vanished.

“Yuri!” Byleth cried, pulling himself to his feet and staggering over to him. “Oh goddess…”

Dropping to his knees, he got to work immediately healing Yuri’s mangled leg. Casting the faith spell Yuri taught him, Byleth placed his hands on the wound and began to fuse it together. Yuri gritted his teeth to keep from crying out as the spell burned through him. As the last bit of flesh and bone knitted back together, Yuri gasped and collapsed into Byleth’s arms.

Byleth’s body was trembling whether from cold, shock or exertion, he couldn’t tell. But he clung to Yuri tightly and pressed a kiss into his hair. 

“I’ve got you,” Byleth whispered. “You’re safe.”

Yuri took a deep, ragged breath and sat up, giving Byleth a shaky smile. “Nice work up there.”

“I think you get credit for that one. Yuri Leclerc defeating a Titanus armed only with his wits will surely be one for the history books,” Byleth said with a breathless laugh.

Yuri opened his mouth to reply but a burst of light in the sky behind Byleth stopped him. 

“What the hell is that?” he asked, scrambling to his feet and pointing at the growing blaze of magic hurtling down towards them from the heavens. As it grew closer, Yuri could see that it was in the shape of a massive spear and ringed by pulsing circles of magical light.

Byleth swore and grabbed Yuri’s hand. “Run!”

“How are we supposed to outrun that?” Yuri gasped, struggling to keep up with Byleth on his newly-healed leg.

He looked back up at the spear of light and saw something else in the sky: the swiftly approaching shadows of a wyvern and a pegasus.

“Look!” he said.

Byleth stopped and swore again, this time with relief. In seconds, the fliers were swooping down to meet them and Yuri could make out Felix in the saddle of the wyvern and Hapi on the back of the pegasus.

“GET ON!” Felix screamed as his wyvern crashed to the ground next to them.

“Yuri!” Hapi cried joyfully. 

Byleth lifted him up behind Hapi and Yuri threw his arms around her waist, squeezing her tightly. “Just in time,” he said fondly.

Jumping up into the saddle behind Felix, Byleth said, “Get us out of here!”

“No shit!” Felix yelled. “What the fuck is th-”

The rest of his words were lost in the roar of rushing wind as the wyvern and pegasus launched back into the sky and fled from the incoming spear of light. They barely made it to the clouds when the spear hit the ground below them and blinding white light exploded along with the deafening roar of rupturing earth.

The pegasus neighed shrilly and hurtled wildly in the air for a moment as the force of the blast hit it. Hapi screamed but she and Yuri managed to hang onto the saddle and when the pegasus steadied itself and kept flying, Yuri looked over his shoulder at the plains below. The sight that met his eyes took his breath away.

The whole expanse of the Tailtean Plains was a burnt wasteland and there was a crater half a mile at the point of impact.

  
  


“You disobeyed a direct order,” Byleth said as the wyvern landed safely within the walls of Fhirdiad and he and Felix dismounted.

“You’re welcome,” Felix said.

“If you had come sooner, they would have killed Yuri.”

“Which is why I didn’t come sooner,” he argued. “I gave you a half-hour head start. I figured that should be long enough for you to have things in hand and then I could come pick up your wounded bodies after the dust settled from the fight. Good thing I did, too.”

“And as fortunate as your timing was, it was still a-”

“He did not disobey orders,” Dimitri said, walking across the courtyard towards them. “He followed mine.”

Felix smirked at Byleth and said, “I can’t say no to the boar. He’s our king now.”

“Felix!” Sylvain shouted as he burst out of the doors of the palace and ran across the courtyard to tackle Felix in a hug. 

“Get off of me!” Felix growled, trying to struggle out of his arms to no avail.

Sylvain held on tightly until Felix stopped fighting his hug and gave in, wrapping his arms around Sylvain’s waist and resting his head on his chest.

“Thank Seiros you and Yuri made it,” Sylvain told Byleth, glancing over Felix’s shoulder at him. “When we saw that thing in the sky, we thought for sure it would be too late.”

“You could see it all the way from here?” Byleth asked.

“Yes. We may not know what the hell it was but Annette and I think we’ve triangulated where the thing was launched from. Whoever was behind that attack, we now have a shot at hunting them down,” he said.

Felix grabbed Sylvain’s face and pulled him down for a kiss. “You’re a fucking genius,” he said, his voice sharp and yet full of adoration in a way that only made sense when it was Felix talking.

“Hey Chatterbox,” Hapi called, walking over. Yuri limped beside her with his arm across her shoulders.

“Thank you for-” Byleth began but Hapi shook her head.

“Don’t thank me when you chewed Felix out. That’s just unfair treatment.”

Byleth smiled. “I was going to thank you both once I got done lecturing you about disregarding orders.”

“Yeah, well it should be me thanking you. You took down a Titanus to save my best friend. I owe you one.”

Dimitri came over and rested his hand on Byleth’s shoulder. “Are you hurt?”

Byleth shook his head.

“Then you must come at once to the council room. We must form a plan for our counterattack. We have much to discuss,” Dimitri said. He looked at Yuri and said, “I will send for a healer to see to your wounds.”

“By already did; it’s just taking a bit for my leg to realize it’s already been healed,” he answered with a laugh. “Don’t leave me out of plotting.”

“Very well,” Dimitri said with a nod of respect.

Letting go of Hapi, Yuri walked over to Byleth and slipped his arms around his waist. He didn’t speak and Byleth was relieved because he had no idea how to put into words the emotions flooding his mind.

“I need to talk to you alone as soon as our council is over,” he whispered in Yuri’s ear.

Yuri nodded and stood up on his tiptoes and kissed him deeply, lingering for a moment longer than was probably polite to do in public. 

  
  


They all left the council with heavy hearts, for to be plotting a battle so soon after the end of a war was the last thing any of them would have wished for. But they had known that one last enemy remained in Fódlan, slithering in the dark, waiting to rise up again and strike. Now that they had a possible location, they could not afford to hesitate in striking back. 

Yuri had guessed this would be coming ever since Enbarr, when he saw the power of what the blood witches could do. But he had hoped to enjoy peace a little longer before facing another war.

“Are you sure you don’t need to see a healer?” Byleth asked him as they walked back to their chamber.

“I just need rest,” he said. “And more than anything, I need you.”

As soon as they were within the privacy of their chamber, Yuri spun Byleth around and pushed him up against the door, kissing him until they both were breathless.

“I love you,” he said, his heart aching with the inadequacy of those three words to express what he wanted to say. “I…”

“Marry me, Yuri,” Byleth whispered.

Yuri took a step back and stared at Byleth with wide eyes. “What did you say?”

Byleth looked back at him like a startled deer. “I… I didn’t- I wasn’t thinking. I just-”

“You just blurted it out,” Yuri said. “No lead up, no speech, no ring.”

“I have a ring!” he said. “It’s… it’s in my drawer. Let me go get it. I’ll start over. I’m sorry. Just give me a minute and-”

Yuri caught his arm as he tried to walk away and laughed. “No. I’m not letting you propose to me here in our bedroom while we’re both bloodstained and sweaty and pumped full of adrenaline from a fight. Not after I have spent so many months ring shopping and writing and rewriting my proposal.”

Byleth froze nervously. “So what do you suggest we do?”

“I suggest you kiss me. And then we take a nice long hot bath and clean up a bit and get some rest. And then I suggest you meet me on the terrace in an hour. I was going to take you up to the Goddess Tower at Garreg Mach because I’m a sentimental idiot, but the palace garden will do in a pinch.” He smiled playfully at Byleth and added, “If you try to bring this up again while I’m standing here dirty and with smudged makeup, I will say no.”

“Fair enough,” Byleth said. He avoided eye contact and shifted awkwardly, his face flushed with embarrassment. 

“Come here,” Yuri said gently and when Byleth hesitated, he took his hand and pulled him close. “I love you, Byleth Eisner, more than anything in this world.”

Byleth threw his arms around Yuri and kissed him deeply, replying with the passion and tenderness of his touch far better than he ever could have with words.

Although Yuri kept up his nonchalant manner throughout the next hour, his mind was racing with shock at the overwhelming events of the day and excitement at what was ahead of him. It felt like an eternity before he was bounding up the steps towards the palace garden, his hair silky and clean, eyes perfectly shaded, and clothes impeccably chosen. 

He shooed all the servants away and chose a spot where he could casually lean against the wall of the terrace while being elegantly surrounded by the pale silver-green leaves of snowberry plants and where the sunlight hit him at a good angle. There he waited nervously for Byleth to show up.

Clearing his throat, he patted his pocket to double-check that the ring was still there and he had not dropped it or anything. He had wanted a little more time to prepare but he would have to make do since Byleth’s impatience had pulled the trigger a bit earlier on everything. Still, he wouldn’t let the spontaneity ruffle him. He would look calm, cool, in control like he always did.

Yuri appeared to be calm at least. He was sure of it. Still, he fidgeted a bit as he tried to find the perfect casual pose. 

His heart started pounding when the door from the palace opened and Byleth stepped out onto the terrace.

He was wearing his usual dark gray tunic and black cape, but in the sparkling winter sunlight he looked exceptionally handsome in it. Or maybe Yuri was just biased. He looked much the same as he did every day.

Wordlessly, Byleth walked over to Yuri and stopped a foot away from him, his eyes wide and anxious. There was a bruise across his left eye and a cut slashed across his cheek from the fight earlier and he looked a bit shaky on his feet from exhaustion. But as the nervousness cleared from his expression, replaced by a beautiful, unwavering intensity, Yuri found himself speechless for once.

He had this whole thing planned out. He had for months. But suddenly he understood how Byleth could just blurt out the words in the middle of a kiss. It was all he wanted to say. The ceremony didn't matter. He just wanted to hear Byleth say yes and to put the ring on his finger and kiss him over and over again until it felt real that he could be this incredibly lucky.

After all they had been through, Yuri hardly felt shy about the proposal. If they had not been together for the past year, if he had not spent day after day laughing, crying, bleeding, living and sleeping with Byleth, maybe carefully-chosen words would matter and sweeping romantic gestures would be needed to convince Byleth to say yes.

Maybe all he needed was to tell Byleth the truth and ask him frankly if he would still accept him once he knew.

Yuri cleared his throat and cast aside his plans, speaking the words that came to him in the moment. “There are many things I have said halfway over our time together and I want to say them in full to you right now, if you will listen. They’ve been on my mind for quite some time and I must tell you the whole story before I can ask for any promises from you about sharing a life together.”

Byleth nodded, his eyes never leaving Yuri’s.

“You know that I bear the crest of Aubin, that Aubin himself gave it to me when he wandered into my village in the disguise of an old man and nursed me back to health from my illness. You know that when he bestowed the crest on me, it gave me certain powers beyond even the normal abilities of a crest. But you have never asked me what they are. You have always waited patiently for me to tell you these things in time and that trust and patience is one of the thousand reasons why I love you.”

Byleth’s smile distracted Yuri for a moment then he recovered and kept going.

“The truth is that Aubin used a similar kind of blood magic that Rhea used with you when she put that heart into you to save your life. It’s not natural and it is as much a curse as a blessing. By giving me the power of his crest, Aubin also charged me with the mission of accomplishing the dream he had devoted his life to. That was what he asked in exchange for my life. This dream I have to save the downtrodden in Fódlan, to make sure no one must die from poverty and oppression when a helping hand could have saved them… It feels impossible. It overwhelms me. It’s too much for one man to do alone. Because of that, Aubin was never able to accomplish it. He lived an unnaturally long life and still never saw his dream become reality. So when he felt himself reaching the end, he passed it on to me. And he said that, much like him, I would live on for centuries until I either gave up my magic by passing on Aubin’s blood to someone else, or I accomplished his dream. Only then would I be able to be at peace and to live a normal, mortal life. And I will never thrust such responsibility onto someone else’s shoulders. I will never twist the natural course of life and magic by doing what he did, what Rhea did and what these blood witches did. So my only option is to see his dream through to the end, no matter how long it takes me.”

Byleth took this news with surprising composure. “So when you say that you can’t fail to achieve your dream, you mean that you actually can’t. It would be betraying the vow you made.”

Yuri nodded. “I have to pay the debt of my life and I will pay it for centuries. This is…” He began to wish he had planned how to say this part better, for even though he had had a lifetime to find the right words for it, he never thought he would be in a position where he would be telling someone the truth.

“This is why I haven’t spoken of this with you until now. The pressure of this dream… it would cripple a normal relationship. Everything in my life has always had to come second to it and I thought that would prevent me from ever growing too close to anyone. But when you came along and you… I realized that you are like me. You’re not quite human either. You’ve been cursed in your own way too and any kind of normal relationship is out of your grasp as well.” 

Yuri realized the way his words sounded and amended them immediately, saying, “But that was not reason enough to love you. I don’t just love you because you’re strange like me. What I’m trying to get at here and stumbling all over the place-”

“You’re doing great,” Byleth interrupted quietly.

“Thanks,” he said with a short, nervous laugh. “What I’m trying to get at is that you share my dream. I have you seen you dedicate your life to it of your own accord, helping everyone you come into contact with, fighting for those who cannot fight for themselves, giving everything you have to make Fódlan a safer, more equal place. With you I can accomplish my dream. And with you I can have a life beyond it. A life of my own… with you.”

As he finished his speech, he pulled the ring out of his pocket and got down on one knee. Taking a deep breath to steady his nerves, he looked up at Byleth earnestly and held out the ring.

“Marrying me means more than sharing a normal lifetime together. It could mean sharing many lifetimes. Knowing that, would you still say yes?” he asked.

Byleth stared back at him with calmness and certainty and nodded. “Yes.” He dropped down to his knees beside Yuri and put his hand on the side of Yuri’s neck, kissing him slowly and intently. 

When they pulled back, he took the ring from Yuri’s hand and slipped it onto his finger. Then he withdrew a ring from his pocket and took Yuri’s hand, sliding it onto Yuri’s ring finger.

“We’ll accomplish our dream,” he said, “so that we can be free.”

Yuri had promised himself he would stay cool but suddenly his eyes were burning with tears and he was swiping at them with his sleeve in embarrassment.

“But first we have to survive what is immediately ahead of us,” Byleth said, a grave look falling over his face. “I thought you were safe until yesterday when you were taken. It made me realize that it is not as easy as saving you once. Killing Myson in Enbarr kept that one assassin from finding you, but you were still taken by Those Who Slither in the Dark. They came after you for a different reason, but they still nearly killed you. You might have survived this time, but they will keep coming for you and me until we have put an end to them. It’s not as simple as me turning back time once to save you from one fate. There are many moments ahead of us where you could die and I cannot promise you I can save you from them all.”

It was one of the longest speeches Byleth had ever given and Yuri listened to him in astonishment. He thought Byleth was done when he paused and took a deep breath. But he kept going and emotion bled through into his voice as he said, “Yuri, I… I was so terrified of losing you that I kept waiting to put this ring on your finger to make sure you would be safe first. We’re never going to be safe. But I’m done waiting. I don’t care what kind of new war is ahead of us. I don’t… All this about your life debt that you have to pay… None of that matters to me as much as being with you matters to me.”

Byleth looked a little stunned at his long speech too and added, “That’s… that’s all.”

Yuri smiled at him and stood up, pulling Byleth to his feet as well. “Two proposals in one, huh? What a morning.”

“Yours was better,” Byleth said. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have just sprung it on you earlier and I should have-”

But Yuri interrupted him with a kiss before he could mumble any more unnecessary apologies. Wrapping his arms around Byleth’s neck, he kissed him with nothing held back. No fear of the long and dangerous road ahead of them overshadowed his spirit in that moment. No worry or self-doubt about the choice he was making lingered in the back of his mind. He just felt certain. Perfectly, deeply certain.

Byleth moved his lips to Yuri’s neck and ran his hands across his back longingly. “I love you, Yuri,” he whispered.

“From now on, when it’s just the two of us, I want you to call me by my real name,” Yuri replied. “I have kept it secret in fear of Aubin’s enemies discovering me. But now that we are going to be marching to battle and facing them head-on, I don’t have to live in fear anymore. So call me my real name from now on. I want to hear you say it. No one has said it to me in far too long.”

“I told you, I don’t remember what it is,” Byleth said.

Yuri put his hand on Byleth’s shoulder and leaned close to whisper, “I will tell you then. You know all the rest of my secrets now, after all. Let me hand you this last one. Listen closely…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for coming along for the ride! I appreciate your encouraging comments and all the awesome art and stories everyone else created for Yurileth Week! It was truly a fantastic celebration of these two wonderful characters.
> 
> I'm sorry this story got way out of hand and bigger than I intended. I guess I was still caught up in my Blue Lions vs. the Slithers mood from my novel _Valerian_ and couldn't resist throwing a bit into this Azure Moon storyline.
> 
> Anyways, thank you so much for reading! If y'all have head canons about what Yuri's real name is let me know in the comments or hit me up on Twitter (@lalexanderwrite). I had a head canon for it but decided to not include it since I wanted to circle back to the original s-support at the end of the chapter and leave it on the same line.


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